


Promises

by LookerDeWitt



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Ruby & Sapphire & Emerald | Pokemon Ruby Sapphire Emerald Versions
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Angst, Bittersweet Ending, Characters and other tags to be added, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Lots of death tbh be warned, Minor Character Death, Multi, Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, Possession, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-04
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-18 04:12:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 69,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5897761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LookerDeWitt/pseuds/LookerDeWitt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU in which Team Magma awakens Groudon two years early, before May and Brendan are even pokemon trainers. Plagued with earthquakes and heat waves, Hoenn has become a primal wasteland and May just wants to survive and find her parents. She meets a stranger, Archie, who offers to help her in her search, seeing how he's looking for someone himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Littleroot

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fic I've had planned out since August of this year and I didn't want to post it until I had most of it done, so I plan to update weekly or bi weekly if possible. This is going to be long, and I plan on adding character tags and anything else as they appear. Anyways, enjoy the story~

When May was nine the world seemed to have ended.

It had started with an earthquake; all across Hoenn, the world began to shake violently. Buildings collapsed, power lines were decimated, and the earth threatened to split open with every violent shake. While the earthquakes were bad, nothing quite compared to the heat. As the earth shook below Hoenn, the temperature rose swiftly, making the world blurry to anyone unfortunate to have been caught outside. It all built up to one violent flash of light; and in an instant, anything outside was burnt to ashes in the overwhelming heat. It had gone as soon as it had come, but the effects still devastated Hoenn, turning it into a primal wasteland.

May was playing outside with Brendan, like she had been all summer, when the world began to shake beneath her feet. She felt like the globe itself was going to split open, and she was going to fall deep down into the earth, never to be seen again until she was a fossil archeologists would dig up in hundreds of years. Brendan had grabbed her hand, and the two of them ran to her house. It had only been a couple yards from where they were playing, but it felt like the two of them had just run a marathon. It was hot- hotter than it should’ve been; hot to the point that her vision got blurry and she began to sweat just by standing there and she felt dizzy like she did when she caught a cold. They got to her door, and she entered her house, but Brendan didn’t join her.

“What are you doing?” She asked desperately. “Get in here before you get hurt!”

“I gotta make sure my dad’s okay!” He argued. “He’s always getting himself in danger. At least I know you can take care of yourself!”

“But…” May couldn’t argue with that, but she still felt a pit in her stomach. “Be careful…”

“I know!” He had smiled. “I promise I’ll see you when this is all over!” A few moments after she had shut the door, a great white light flashed. For a short second, everything had burned; it had become so unbearably hot that she blacked out. When she came to, the heat was still overwhelming, but it had subsided a little, seeing how it was nightfall. All around her was silent and she couldn’t help but worry about Brendan. Whatever that was… it didn’t hurt him, did it? He must have outrun it, hadn’t he? She went to the front door, deciding she’d have to check up on him. But it wouldn’t budge. Something must’ve fallen in front of the front door outside, stopping her from opening it. She groaned; this was her only way out, unless she was feeling brave enough to try and break and jump out of the window on the second floor. She shook her head, trying to ignore the feeling of dread she had. Surely, her parents would be home soon, and then she could truly see what happened. Her mom might take awhile; she was out at the Lilycove department store shopping. But her dad… he was a gym leader and all, but he wasn’t too far away at least. Surely, he’d be home soon. 

By the next morning, no one had come. Nor the next day, or the day after that. May wanted to set out and look for someone, but what could she possibly do? The world was still plagued with earthquakes, and she had no way of knowing when they’d occur. It was really was safer inside her home, especially considering she couldn’t even go past Littleroot without a pokemon, seeing how they roamed freely in the grass.

Assuming there still was grass.

She waited it out a few more days, but she knew time was running out. After the first day, the power had gone out, making it impossible for her to watch T.V. to understand what happened. After the third day, earthquakes rattled the house so violently that the staircase had collapsed, and she’d need to take her sweet, careful time if she wanted to return to her room. And by the end of the week, there was very little food left that she could reach in the pantry and make for herself.

During the night of the last day of the week, she heard pounding at the front door and finally, it creaked open. May eagerly headed towards the staircase to greet her mother or father, or possibly Brendan and Professor Birch, but found someone she didn’t know at the entrance instead. She ducked behind the remains of the staircase so she could get a better look without being seen. It was a man, much taller and larger than her father. He was clad in a blue plaid shirt and a pair of black jeans, both of which were caked in dirt and ash. In fact, his entire body was coated in dirt, save for his face, which was covered with goggles and a bright blue bandana with a symbol she didn’t recognize. He stepped further into the house, and took a good look around, before setting his large backpack on the ground.

May was terrified; she didn’t know this man. He was large and scary and she couldn’t even see his face! She wanted to stay put and stay hidden until this man left, but… she was hungry. And lonely. This man had been outside, he had to at least know if Brendan and Professor Birch were okay. She clenched her fist and took a deep breath. Neither of her parents were home, so this was her house. She was in charge, and this strange man would have to respect that. She finally stood up and headed towards the man, keeping a firm glare on her face.

“Who are you?” May asked. “Who are you, and what do you want?” The man stumbled back a little and May smirked; clearly, she had caught him off guard.

“Shoot, ya scared the hell outta me.” The man stammered.

“That’s a bad word.” May said, folding her arms. “Mom told me not to trust people who used them.”

“Well, she’s probably right about that.” The man let out a nervous chuckle.

“So? Who are you?” May asked again. “This is my house, and I didn’t give you permission to come in.”

“Look, scamp, I had no idea anyone was in here. I got lost and was just lookin’ for a place to rest my head for the night. That’s all. It’s still hot as hell… _heck_ out there, y’know?”

“Is it?” May asked, dropping the intimidating act in place of pure curiosity. “I haven’t been outside since…”

“Since Groudon, right?”

“Groudon…?” The name sounded fairly familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it. “What’s Groudon?”

“Ya don’t know what happened, do ya?” The man asked. May just shook her head in response. “Sit down, I’ll explain it.” May didn’t say anything and sat down at the table. The man sat across from her, and he finally pulled his bandana off. May noticed that he had a scraggly beard, and a weird scar across his nose and down the left side of his face, but she kept quiet about it for now.

“Once upon a time-”

“I’m too old for fairy tales.” May interrupted.

“No one’s too old for fairytales.” The man snapped. “Especially when they’re true. Anyways, once upon a time, there was a super legendary pokemon named Groudon. Groudon had the ability to create land. But along with that, it created disastrous earthquakes and a horrible heat. It was put to rest centuries ago, and Hoenn was peaceful. But then a group of idiots that called themselves Team Magma decided to try and revive it, figurin’ it could help people by expandin’ the land. They woke it up alright, but they underestimated its power, and quickly made a mess of the world.”

“A pokemon caused all this?” May asked.

“Yeah. I’m surprised ya haven’t heard of Groudon. I thought every little scamp in Hoenn knew about it and Kyogre.”

“Well, I’m not really from here. My parents and I moved in a couple of months ago.”

“Where are your parents, anyways?”

“My mom went out shopping at Lilycove, and my dad went to work at Petalburg… that was a week ago, and I’m still waiting for them to come home.”

“You’ve been alone here this whole time?!” The man exclaimed.

“Yeah… After the earthquake, the door wouldn’t open. I was gonna wait here for my parents but...” She felt the sting of tears in her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to keep them at bay. “Do you think they’re still out there? Do you think they forgot about me?”

“What? N-no, kiddo, I’m sure they haven’t forgotten about ya!” May didn’t reply, and looked away. The last thing she wanted was for this strange man to pity her. “Look, the world outside is a mess right now! The power’s out most everywhere, a lotta of buildings collapsed in the quakes, a ton of people are stuck in rubble and in the heat wave a lotta people…” He was going to say died, and May knew it too, but he kept quiet. “I’m sure they’re both workin’ their hardest to find ya.”

“Y-you really think so?” May sniffled.

“I know so.” He kept quiet as May wiped her eyes and composed of herself. “Look, scamp... After tonight, I was plannin’ on settin’ out to look for my, er,  _friend_ , Maxie. Petalburg is a bit out of the way of where I’m goin’ but… if you’re willin’, I can accompany ya there.”

“You… you mean it?”

“’Course I do. Besides, I can’t just leave a little scamp all by herself, now can I?”

“I can take care of myself, you know.” May replied, managing a smile.

“I don’t doubt it.” He smiled, too. “But it’s a lot like pokemon. One can be plenty strong on its own, but a team is even stronger.” May only nodded. “So… do ya wanna come with me?”

“What’s your name?” May asked. “Mom and Dad told me not to go with strangers. But if I know your name, we won’t be strangers anymore.”

“I guess that’s fair.” The man said. He took off the goggles, finally revealing his face. “My name’s Archie. What’s yours?”

“It’s…” May gasped at the sight of him. He had an x-shaped scar over his forehead, but it didn’t look very recent. However, the left side of his face was covered with thick burns, creating thin, discolored lines on his otherwise dark skin. His right eye was blue and focused on May, but his left eye was a milky white and looked upon nothing. She gulped, and held her hand out for him to shake. “It’s May. I’m May.”

“It’s nice to meet ya, May.” Archie grinned. He gripped her hand tightly, and gave it a firm shake.

* * *

 

The next morning, the two of them got ready to set out. She brought her backpack with her and packed all the things she figured she’d need: an extra t-shirt and shorts, a water bottle, a toothbrush, a couple cans of food and a blanket. She brought her skitty plushie, as well. She was sad leaving behind so many of her toys, but she'd have to make do. 

“Whoa, hold up there, scamp.” Archie said, just as she was about to head out the door.

“What?” She replied. He reached forward and pulled the red bandanna she was wearing as a bow out of her hair. “Hey! What’s that for?”

“This thing’s cute n’ all, but you’re gonna want to tie it around your neck so it can cover your face. Like this.” He demonstrated it for her, using his blue bandanna as an example.

“Why?”

“During that heat wave, a lotta stuff burnt to ash; it's everywhere! And it doesn’t have anywhere to go but around. It's hard to breathe out there, but havin’ something covering your mouth with help. Your eyes, too. Ya got a pair of goggles anywhere?”

“I’ve got some blue swimming ones.” May grumbled. “But they’re not gonna match.”

“No one cares if they don’t match, scamp.” She sighed but left and retrieved them anyways. “Good… now one last thing. Kid, do ya have any pokemon of your own?”

“Not really.”

“Not really, or no?”

“Not really.” She repeated. “Mom and Dad wouldn’t let me have one of my own until I turned ten. But the professor let me have one of his so I could play with Brendan and his treeko. He even said I could keep him on my birthday!”

“That’s great!” Archie exclaimed. “Do ya know where it is? The world’s dangerous out there, and while I promise to keep an eye on ya, I think you’d be a lot safer with a pokemon of your own.”

“It’s at the lab. It’s not too far away.”

“All right. I guess we’ll head there first.” He headed towards the door, and opened it slowly. “Hey, scamp?”

“What is it?”

“Take a deep breath. The first one’s always the hardest.”

The two of them stepped outside, and May realized he was absolutely right. Even with the bandanna on, the air was harsh and made her throat burn. She began to gag, her breaths short and shallow. She bent over, clutching at her throat as violent coughs wracked her body. She felt Archie’s hand upon her back, patting it gently.

“Try to relax. It takes a second to get used to. Just hold on.” Archie said, in as calm a tone as he could muster. It took her a few moments to gain her composure, but soon enough the stinging in her throat went away, replaced with a dull ache as she breathed slowly. She finally stood up straight, letting Archie’s hand slide off her back.

“Sorry.” She finally said, her voice only coming out as a hoarse whisper.

“Nothin’ to be sorry for. No way I can expect ya to adapt immediately.”

She paused for a moment, taking in the scenery around her. This was Littleroot. She knew it, but still, it was hard to believe. All of the grass had been burnt and only remained in patches of yellow beneath her feet. The trees around the town were all but gone, their bright green foliage missing, making the black charred wood look like eerie skeletons. Her house was a mess; the roof partially collapsed, she noticed. That must have been what prevented her from leaving the house; all of the debris had been moved by Archie, and was piled up next to the door.

“Why did you come to my house,” May asked, “if it was so much trouble to get into?”

“Wasn’t that much trouble.” Archie shrugged. “Especially when ya compare it to the other one.” May almost didn’t want to see. Almost. She stepped forward, and Brendan’s house came into view. The whole thing was nothing but a pile of rubble. May could see part of the staircase sticking out through the mess of wooden beams and remains of wall, but otherwise very little of it was recognizable. She tried to ignore the thoughts that popped into her head; the idea that Brendan might have been inside when it came crashing down.

“Let’s go.” She said. Brendan had to be in the lab, she was sure of it. He had said he was getting the professor, and that’s where he always was! He had to be okay, right? She stepped forward through the ashes, Archie following quietly beside her. The entire town was coated in the stuff. The ground, the buildings, even suspended in the cloudy sky- the ash was everywhere. It almost reminded her of snow, the kind she’d used to look forward to in Johto in the wintertime. She remembered her surprise when Brendan had told her he’d never seen snowfall before. Apparently, it was incredibly rare in Hoenn, and really only occurred at higher altitudes like meteor falls. She had promised to take him back to Johto sometime to show him what a snowball fight was like. She gulped, seriously hoping that she’d get to keep that promise.

May noticed the ash had a fairly even coat upon everything, but there were dark black stains in it in random places.

“Why’s it black in some places?” May asked, pointing to one of the strange stains.

“Those…” Archie sighed. “Anyone who was unlucky enough to be outside during the heat wave burnt up in an instant. All that’s left of ‘em is that little black stain. That, and any metal on ‘em. That stuff doesn’t burn up easily.”

“Oh…” May grimaced. She was thankful she had been inside, but the thought that these dark, greasy stains all over the place used to be living, breathing people and pokemon made her shiver. She was pulled from her thoughts when her foot stepped on something hard. She realized, to her horror, she had accidentally stepped on one of the black patches in the ash. Whatever she had stepped on had once belonged to someone who had died horribly. She knew she had no right to mess with it, but her curiosity got the best of her, and she stooped down to pick it up. It was a wide, silver bracelet, with a zigzagged pattern all across it. In the center of it all was a stone that was rainbow in color, with a strange symbol in the middle.

This was Brendan’s bracelet. She remembered him showing it off to her proudly. He had gotten it as a gift from his father, who had gotten it from a friend of his in Kalos. With it, he said, he’d be able to make his pokemon even stronger. As soon as they both turned ten and got the chance to raise their own pokemon teams, he was going to battle her and show her just how strong his pokemon could be.

But now the bracelet was in her hands, and all that was left of him was a discolored stain in the ash below her feet.

She wanted to scream, to cry out in agony, but the burning in her throat wouldn’t let her. All that came out was a choked sob as she fell to her knees. She began to weep, holding the bracelet close to her chest and squeezing tight, as if squeezing onto it with all her might would somehow bring her best friend back.

“May?!” Archie asked. He rushed over to her, and knelt down beside her. “What’s the matter? Did somethin’ happen?”

“Brendan… this is…” She mumbled in between sobs. “He didn’t make it…he didn’t even… I should’ve…” Archie grimaced when he noticed the bracelet in her hands and the black stain in the ashes beneath her feet.

“Scamp…” Archie began, but he didn’t know what to say. What in the world could he say? The kid had just lost her best friend, what in the world could he possibly do? “Hey…” He put his hand on her shoulder, but she immediately swatted him away. May didn’t want his pity; she didn’t want him- or anyone for that matter- to be near her. This was all her fault, and all she wanted was to sit with Brendan for just a little bit longer.

It didn’t last long, however. In a moment, Archie scooped her up into his arms, and carried her towards Birch’s labs, away from the patch in the dirt, and away from Brendan.

“What are you doing?!” She cried. “Put me down!!”

“There’s no shame in cryin’, scamp,” Archie said, “but if you’re gonna do it, it might as well be someplace where you can breathe better.” He opened the door to the laboratory and once they got inside he set her down. All things considered, the lab was in pretty good shape. Some of the bookshelves had fallen down, part of the ceiling near the back of the room had collapsed, all of his machines had turned off, and there was a long, thin crack on the back wall, but otherwise most everything was in tact. However, the place was eerily silent without the buzzing sound from the machines and the jovial laughter of the professor. The lab looked deserted, and if that large black stain just outside the entrance was any indication, she knew where the professor had gone.

She didn’t want to think about him. Brendan was enough. She tore her goggles and her bandanna off of her head, and sobbed openly into her ash-covered hands. She couldn’t get Brendan out of her mind. He had been right there, right in front of her, just steps away from safety, and yet she hadn’t done anything. She could have forced him inside her house. It wouldn’t have taken much; every time the two of them had gotten into a fight, she had won. Just a tug of the arm, and he could have been safe. She could have talked to him, convinced him to stay inside with her until the heat subsided. She could have saved him. She could have saved him, but now he was gone; nothing but ashes that would be blown away once the wind picked up.

It was all her fault.

She cried for a while, letting her mind drift into a whirlwind of despair and self-loathing, muttering regrets and grievances in between choked sobs. Archie gave her plenty of space, waiting until her sobs had turned into hoarse whimpers to approach her.

“Hey.” Archie said. He held out a box of tissues for her. “I figured ya might need these.” May said nothing but took the tissues from his hands, using one to wipe her swollen red eyes. He pulled up one of the overturned chairs and sat beside her. “You okay?”

“I don’t know.” May responded. She felt a little bit embarrassed; she never did like crying in front of others.

“That’s okay. Did ya wanna talk about it?”

“I…” May played idly with the bracelet in her hands. “I was playing outside when all of this happened with my friend, Brendan. I… I should’ve made him stay in my house! He said he needed to check on his dad and I let him go, but I… Why did I do that? If I had just argued with him, just forced him to come inside, he wouldn’t be…” She sniffled. "I promised to see him again...!"

“Don’t go blamin’ yourself, scamp.” Archie said. “You couldn’t have known that would happen. None of us had any idea! If I had known what was gonna happen, my face would still be beautiful!” That got a small laugh out of May. “But seriously, don’t blame yourself for any of this. It’s hard enough to breathe; ya shouldn’t be blamin’ yourself for all the people that didn’t make it.”

“I’m sorry, Archie.” May said.

“I’m sorry too. I shoulda prepared ya more for what was out there.” Archie said. “And I’m real sorry about your little friend. I can’t even imagine what it must be like.”

“It’s okay.” May said, taking a deep breath. The sting of tears in her eyes was still there, and the bracelet, the constant reminder of what she had lost was in still in her hand. But... she’d have to be strong. When she and Brendan played together, she tended to win. But Brendan never got disappointed and quit. He’d look a little embarrassed, sure, but he usually took his losses with a smile and would eagerly ask when the next game would begin. She always worked her hardest, rarely knowing what it was like to lose anything. But now that she had lost something important she realized that she wanted to be like that, too. Sure, the stakes were much higher, but what was the point in giving up when she had just started? She put Brendan’s bracelet on and sighed. “I think… I’m okay now.”

“Ya sure?” Archie asked. “I don’t mind sittin’ with ya for a little, if ya need it.”

“I’m all right.” She replied, shaking her head. “I’m still sad, but I can’t give up yet. We’ve barely gotten anywhere.”

“If ya say so, scamp.”

May stood up and stretched, then strolled over to the back of the lab.

“It should be over here.” May said. She headed towards the desk against the back wall, where professor Birch kept the pokemon he let her and Brendan use. Part of the desk had been destroyed by debris from the ceiling. The heavy beam had fallen and, to her horror, smashed one of the three pokeballs inside. It was a torchic, that neither she nor Brendan used, but it still deserved better than that. The pokeball containing Brendan’s treeko was there too, but it was empty. That treeko had been clinging to Brendan’s back like she usually did when May had last seen him, so she could guess what had become of her. Finally, she pulled out the last pokeball, containing her mudkip.

“Here he is.” She said, a small smile gracing her face. “He’s still okay…”

“What’s in it, if ya don’t mind me askin’?”

“It’s…” May hesitated. “I’ll show you, but promise you won’t laugh at me or him, okay?”

“Don’t see why I ever would.”

“Go, Mudkip!” She tossed the pokeball, and out popped Mudkip. He looked a little startled at the sight of the partially destroyed lab, but when he noticed May, he smiled at her. She scooped him up in her arms, and presented him to Archie. “The professor offered me my choice of mudkip, torchic or treeko. I think mudkip’s the cutest, but… Brendan used to make fun of him because he looks funny.”

“I’ve never seen one that’s purple before!” Archie exclaimed, petting him gently. Mudkip smiled back at him, and nuzzled his head in his hand. “It’s beautiful! Plus, that’s a water type, y’know. Those are good to have right now.”

“Why’s that?”

“Groudon evaporated a lot of the water, so it’s always good to have a pokemon that can create it.” He smiled. “Also, water’s the best type.”

“Really? My dad always said that normal was.”

“Bah! When we meet your dad, I’m gonna have to talk with him. Or maybe a battle.”

“Good luck with that. My dad’s super strong.” Archie began to argue with her, saying something about how his sharpedo could beat anything, but she wasn’t listening. All she could focus on was how Archie had said when they found her dad, not if. Even if she was nervous, she couldn’t help but appreciate his optimism.


	2. Oldale

May and Archie soon left Littleroot behind. Littleroot had been small and peaceful to begin with, but as she and Archie headed towards Route 101, all had been eerily quiet. Either all of the other people had left, or… She shook her head. She didn’t want to think about it. Archie was here, and he couldn’t possibly be the only one left in the world besides her… right? She stopped abruptly at the lamppost that stood just before Route 101, and glanced back at Littleroot sadly. Sure, it hadn’t been home to her all that long, considering she had spent most of her life in Olivine City, but she still felt a twinge of sadness knowing that she’d be leaving it behind for who knew how long.

“This isn’t the last time you’ll be here, I promise.” Archie said. He was standing a few steps ahead of her, waiting patiently as she gazed at Littleroot. She finally turned back around and caught up with him. All the time she had spent with Archie thus far she had spent making him wait for her. She’d like to change that, if she could.

“If you say so.” She said. The two of them traveled through Route 101, and May was greeted with more of what she had seen in Littleroot. The ground was gray from the thick layer of ash covering it, and the thick patches of green grass that wild pokemon once roamed in were blackened and crunched beneath her feet. She kept her hand on her pokeball regardless. She had been told time and time again that this route was full of wild pokemon, so she’d have to be careful.

“I don’t think you’re gonna have to worry quite yet.” Archie said.

“You don’t think so?”

“Probably not. When I came through here earlier, there wasn’t a poochyena or zigzagoon in sight. Ya probably won’t have to worry until we get someplace with more ground and fire types.”

“Okay.” She took her hand off her mudkip’s ball, and walked beside Archie in silence. She felt awkward not saying anything, and decided to talk more.

“Why’s it so cloudy?” She asked. “It’s still so hot, so why does it look like it’s about to rain?”

“That’s what Groudon does.” Archie replied. “It makes things so hot that all the water evaporates. It can’t make water disappear, and it’s too hot for it to rain, so the water just sits up there.”

“Oh.” May said, staring at the overcast sky above her.

“Don’t dwell on it too much, kid. There’s no way things can stay like this forever.”

"I hope you're right."

“I’m sure I am!” Archie exclaimed. “There’s a million and a half legendary pokemon out there, most of which have the ability to destroy the world if they so please. But they haven’t, and the ones who have tried usually find some way to calm down and stop. I’m sure the same will happen with Groudon.”

“What makes you so sure?” May asked.

“I studied Kyogre and Groudon and other pokemon like ‘em when I was younger. Groudon could’ve destroyed Hoenn in a matter of days, if it so wanted. And we’re still here.”

It didn’t take long for the two of them to get to Oldale. Much to May’s dismay, it wasn’t in much better shape than Littleroot. The pokemon center was in shambles; its roof caved in, the windows shattered, and debris scattered all over the place. Most of the houses were in a similar condition, though some had suffered minimal damage like May’s. The pokemart, however, stood completely intact.

“Let’s go check it out for a sec.” Archie said. “They might have some stuff we could use.”

“Wouldn’t that be stealing?” May gasped.

“If there’s someone inside I’ll pay.” He said. The glass door to the pokemart was shattered, and the two of them stepped inside, wary of the glass that surrounded them. Inside, it was a mess. Many of the shelves had fallen over, their contents spilled all over the ground. Everything inside the refrigerated areas looked like it was beginning to rot, the glass covering them shattered in some places. There wasn’t anyone inside. May did notice, however, a blackish stain in the tiled floor beside a spot near a shattered window. Archie immediately got to work looking for supplies while May hung around by the entrance, just taking in the sight.

“What are you looking for?” She finally asked.

“Food, water… first aid stuff never hurts, both for us and our pokemon… Oh!” He picked up a couple of pokeballs, and held them out for May. “I think you could use these! Your mudkip’s great, but he could always have a team!” May took them silently, and stuffed them in her backpack. Archie continued to look for supplies while May just stood there, idly playing with mudkip’s pokeball. “Are ya alright, scamp?”

“Are we the only ones left?” She asked. “Everyone in Littleroot was gone… and Oldale looks exactly the same. I know you said that Groudon could have destroyed Hoenn if it wanted to, but… what if it did? What if we’re the only ones left?”

“Don’t worry about that, kid.” Archie said. “Most of the people flocked to places that were more populated and more stable. A lotta people were in Rustboro when I was there, and I heard a bunch of people went to Mauville for safety. I went through Petalburg, and it was pretty hoppin’, too.”

“Really?” May asked. She wanted to believe him, but still didn’t feel that convinced.

“Of course!” He zipped up his backpack and headed back towards May. “It’s probably time to get goin’. But hey, I found somethin’ for ya.” He dropped a chocolate bar in May’s hands, one of the too-large ones that was sold mostly for novelty purposes.

“What’s this for?” May asked.

“Chocolate always helps people feel better.” Archie said. “At least that’s what Maxie always used to say. He always had some on him all the time. Used to pretend he didn’t like sweets to be all cool and serious, but I knew.”

“Thank you.” May said. She stuffed the chocolate bar into her backpack. “But I think I’ll save it for later. That way I can share it with everyone!”

“If that’s what ya wanna do, I won’t stop ya.” Archie said with a smile. “I woulda eaten the whole thing myself, but it’s not up to me.” The two of them headed out towards Route 102, on their way to Petalburg City.

“Archie, where are you going, anyways?” May asked. “You said Petalburg was out of the way of where you were headed, right?”

“Yeah. I was… I mean, I _am_ headin’ to Sootopolis.” Archie replied.

“Sootopolis?” May repeated. “Isn’t that all the way across Hoenn?”

“Don’t I know it.” Archie replied. “Why do ya think I was grabbin’ so much stuff? This isn’t’ gonna be a one day trip.”

“Does Maxie live in Sootopolis?” May asked.

“’Course not.” Archie snorted. “Guy hates the water. He’d probably rather die than live in Sootopolis. He and I just happened to be in Sootopolis when Groudon started doin’ its thing.” He sighed. “Maxie and I… we got separated.”

“How did you end up all the way out here, then?” May asked.

“I dunno. When the heat started buildin’ up, me and a couple of my friends hid out in one of the buildings near the Cave of Origin. When the heat wave happened, I was standing too close to one of the windows, just ‘cause I wanted to see what was goin’ on. Didn’t realize part of the damn thing was open…” He sighed, idly rubbing the left side of his face. “When I came to, I was in one of my friends’ houses in Rustboro. It’s really out of the way, but my friends figured that the farther we were from the Cave of Origin, the safer it’d be. They’re right, but I couldn’t just sit around when I noticed Maxie wasn’t with them.”

“Do you think he’s all right?” May asked. Archie paused for a moment, but nodded.

“Yes.” He said firmly. “Maxie’s one of the most determined people I’ve ever met. No way he’d let himself die that easily.”

“I’m sure you’ll find him.” May said.

“Thanks, scamp.” Archie smiled at her. “But first thing’s first, we gotta get ya to your folks!”

Route 102 wasn’t much different from Route 101. Everything looked dead, as it had before. May noticed the small pond had dried up completely and was nothing but a large patch of moist dirt. Archie noticed it too, and shook his head.

“If only it’d just rain a little…” He muttered.

“I hope the water comes back soon.” May said as she walked past the dirt. “I liked that pond. I pushed Brendan into it a couple weeks ago.”

“Why’d ya do that?” Archie laughed.

“It was hot out.” Archie didn’t look convinced. “It was hot out, and he made fun of my mudkip.”

“That makes more sense.”

She was going to talk about how she had accidentally pushed Brendan onto a wild surskit, and how its sticky head had gotten stuck to him and took forever to get off, but her thoughts trailed off when she heard a faint cry in the distance.

“Y’know, that actually reminds me of a time when Maxie and I-”

“Shh!” May shushed him. “Hold on a sec.” The two of them stood in silence again, until she heard it again. She rushed forward, looking for the source of the noise, ignoring Archie’s requests to slow down. She hopped down a small ledge into a clearing, where she noticed multiple trees had fallen, likely due to the earthquakes. Just like the rest of the route, the trees were dead and covered in ash, but she noticed the smallest glimpse of pale green beneath the dead weight.

“Scamp… what in the world has gotten in to ya?” Archie asked when he finally caught up to her.

“Look.” She said, pointing beneath the tree. “It’s a ralts! Archie, we have to help it!!” She looked desperately at Archie, worried he might say no like her dad always did whenever she saw a cute, lonely pokemon in the wild and begged to take care it home with her. He reached for his belt and tossed one of his pokeballs.

“Go, mightyena!” Archie called. The large creature landed a few steps away from May, who backed off nervously. Poochyena was super cute, but mightyena always did intimidate her. “Use slash on that tree! Make sure ya don’t hit the ralts!” The mightyena seemed to nod and lunged forward, slicing the large trunk to bits. Archie and May removed the chunks of wood away, revealing the curled up body of the ralts. May knelt down in the gray ash and gingerly placed her hand upon the creature.

“Is it okay?” Archie asked, kneeling down beside her. She remained quiet, keeping her hand on the ralts, until one of its ragged breaths moved her hand up and back down ever so gently.

“Y-yes!” She exclaimed. The ralts was unconscious and her right arm was scarred from burning, but otherwise she looked all right. She pulled the ralts into her arms and held her close. “She’s alive!! Archie, she’s alive!!”

“I’ll be damned. The tree must’ve shielded her from the heat.” Archie returned his mightyena to its pokeball and held his hand out towards May. “If I remember correctly, the pokemon center in Petalburg was still runnin’. We should get her some help.”

“Okay!” May took his hand, and the two of them continued towards Petalburg, their pace a little quicker this time. She kept the ralts close to her body, content with feeling her small movements as she breathed.

“I told ya it wasn’t just us.” Archie said. May just rolled her eyes at him, but she couldn’t help but smile. Other than Archie and her mudkip, this ralts was the only living creature she had seen in the past week. And Mudkip she had known would be safe this whole time. Maybe, she thought, things would be okay. If this little ralts could survive out of sheer luck, there had to be more living things out there, both pokemon and people. People like her parents and Maxie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter. Mostly because the next one is going to be...... long.


	3. Petalburg

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is very long. Just a head's up.

By late afternoon, they had reached Petalburg City. May had been to Petalburg many times before, and she knew just how crowded it could get. But for the first time in her life, the sight of people walking through the streets took her breath away.

“People…” She gasped. “Archie, there are people!!”

The city wasn’t nearly as crowded as it used to be, and the people wandering the streets were dirty and also had on headgear to keep their eyes safe and air relatively clean, but they were still people nonetheless. She almost wanted to hug them.

“Let’s head to the pokemon center.” Archie said. “We can fix up Ralts, and maybe your dad will be there.”

The pokemon center was in much better condition here than in Oldale. The front window had been shattered, there were a few cracks on the walls, and the power was out. Despite that, the pokemon center was bustling and crowded. Nurse Joy, as well as many other volunteers, were working away, tending to pokemon and people who had been injured during the earthquakes and heat waves. The place was also filled with trainers and travelers who had been caught off guard by the disaster. Along the walls, many pokemon stood, keeping the place illuminated with flash. May weaved her way through the crowd, slowly making her way to the front desk, where a frazzled looking volunteer and her togekiss stood.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” May said as she approached the desk, “I found this ralts out in the wild, trapped under a bunch of trees! Can you help it?” Contrasting the volunteer’s harsh appearance, she took the ralts from May gently and inspected her closely.

“Poor thing…” She muttered, gently rubbing some of the ash off of Ralts’ head. “We can take care of her. Please, follow me.” May and Archie followed behind obediently as the volunteer lead them to another crowded room. Inside there were many pokemon being treated for their injuries. May shuddered at the sight of some of them: there was a mawile whose plant head had been mostly burnt off, a poochyena that wouldn’t stop howling while its burns were treated, and a shroomish whose face had been burnt so badly it was nearly unrecognizable. May was thankful the ralts wasn’t in as nearly bad condition as some of the others.

The volunteer placed ralts on a blanket on a table, then got to work. She cleaned the dirt and ash off of Ralts with a wet washcloth, and then applied some burn cream on her charred arm. She wrapped her arm in a thick bandage and finally treated the rest of her injuries with a potion.

“That’s about all I can do right now.” The woman said, handing the sleeping ralts back to May. “I’m sorry there’s not much else I can offer you; we’ve been a little busy, if you can’t tell.”

“You’ve done plenty!” Archie exclaimed. “But we do have one more question for ya. She and I have been lookin’ for her dad, uh… ” He paused. “Scamp, ya never told me what your dad’s name was.”

“Have you seen the gym leader Norman anywhere?” May asked.

“You’re Norman’s daughter?” The woman gasped.

“Uh-huh.”

“My goodness, I never knew he had a child! But I’m afraid I haven’t seen him around, sweetie. After the heat wave and the earthquakes, we’ve been pretty busy helping all the injured pokemon and lost trainers. If he’s been in here, I haven’t seen him.”

“Oh…” May replied, pulling the ralts in her arms a little closer to her body.

“Don’t worry!” The volunteer hastily responded, “That doesn’t necessarily mean anything! Norman’s a pretty strong trainer. I’m sure he just hasn’t come in because he hasn’t needed any help! I’m sure you’ll find him!” Before May had the chance to say anything in response, another volunteer tapped on the woman’s shoulder and gestured to an injured skitty that looked in need of assistance. “I’m sorry, I’m afraid I have to go. Good luck, though!”

May and Archie didn’t stay inside the pokemon center much longer. Honestly, it was almost more comfortable outside in the ash-filled air and the heat than it was inside the crowded building.

“Ya never told me your dad was a gym leader.” Archie stated.

“I didn’t think it was that important.” May replied. She began to head north, away from the pokemon center, and Archie followed quickly behind in her tracks.

“Where are ya goin’?” Archie asked.

“The gym. If my dad’s going to be anywhere, it’s gonna be the gym.” She replied. The gym was only a few blocks away and when they reached it, they noticed it wasn’t in horrible condition. The building looked mostly intact. Part of the roof had caved in and it had a few cracks running along some of the white walls, but otherwise it seemed habitable. The place looked deserted, especially considering that there were no footprints in the ash other than their own.

“Are ya sure he’d be in here? The place looks deserted.” Archie asked.

“I’m sure he is. He spends more time here than at home.” May sighed. “He basically lives here.” Archie couldn’t ignore the bitterness in her voice.

“Kid-”

“Let’s just go inside.” She slid the cracked glass door open and stepped inside. She found a mess awaiting her in the first room. One of the two gym statues had been knocked over, and though the roof hadn’t completely caved in, there was a gaping hole in the ceiling, and rubble from the roof had piled up in front of the two doors leading further into the gym. She grimaced when she noticed a dark stain in the otherwise shiny wooden floor. The guy who always stood there and greeted new trainers had always been kind to her.

“Do ya really think he’s here?” Archie asked. “Even the entrance is all blocked off!”

“He must be trapped!” May said, immediately rushing towards the rubble. She placed the still unconscious ralts on the ground a few feet away, and began pulling at the fallen wood. “If I could live a week on my own, so could he! Archie, please help!” Archie figured he couldn’t argue with that. He joined her and began throwing the hunks of debris to the side.

“Which door is it?” He asked.

“Doesn’t matter.” May replied. “Both eventually lead to dad.” They decided to go for the door on the left, seeing how less of the debris had landed on that side. As they worked away, Archie noticed that some of the rubble seemed to be moving away on its own. Startled, he turned around and found the source of it all.

“May, look.” He said, tapping the busy girl on the shoulder. She turned around and gasped at what she saw. The ralts had finally awoken, and was standing up on her own. She was emitting a faint blue glow from her eyes that seemed to stem out and wrap itself around the wood, gently lifting it and tossing it aside. “She’s usin’ psychic to help us!”

“Ralts…” May grinned. “Thank you!!”

With Ralts’ help, it took them no time at all to clear the way to the left door. The next room looked very similar to the first with shiny wooden floors and a tatami mat in the center. A banner in the back of the room read “Speed Room.” The room was spectacularly clean; clearly no one had stepped inside since the disaster had begun. May lead Archie to the next room, labeled “Defense room.” They encountered more of the same here, though a small hole in the ceiling let a little bit of ash filter through.

“I’ve never seen a gym like this before…” Archie said as he and May stepped into the Strength room.

“Do you have any badges?” May asked.

“I had a couple. When we were about fifteen, me and Maxie tried to beat some of the gyms. We didn’t get very far, though. And we had bigger dreams we wanted to achieve anyways.”

“Really? What did you guys do?”

“That’s a story for a different day, scamp.” Archie replied after a brief pause. May found it odd; Archie had been very open since the moment she met him. She wondered what he could’ve done that was either too embarrassing or uncomfortable to talk about. She wanted to pry, but was too distracted by the fact that the gym leader’s door was blocked off by a ton of debris that had fallen from a caved in wall.

“Again?” May groaned. She started moving the debris to the side, and Ralts joined right after her.

“That ralts really seems to have taken a likin’ to ya.” Archie said, joining the two in their work.

“Do you think she’ll let me catch her?” May asked. “I’ve always wanted a ralts. Besides, gardevoir is one of my favorite pokemon!”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out.” May looked at him, then back at the pile of rubble reluctantly. “Don’t worry about it, scamp. I got this.” May nodded, then knelt beside the ralts while Archie released his mightyena who was happy to help.

“Hey, ralts?” May asked, gently petting the creature on her head. She pulled one of the pokeballs out from her backpack and smiled at Ralts. “How would you like to be a part of my family?” The ralts gently nuzzled herself against her hand, and May threw the pokeball at her. She held her breath as she watched the ball sway from side to side until it finally clicked shut.

“I caught her.” May gasped.

“What was that?” Archie asked, returning mightyena to its pokeball after finishing the last of the rubble.

“I caught her!!” May exclaimed. She picked the pokeball up and jumped with joy. “Archie, I caught her!!”

“Good for you, kiddo!” He replied. He held his hand up and May high-fived him eagerly.

“Should I let her out? Ooh, I should let her meet dad!” She said.

“I say keep her inside for now; let her be a surprise for him!”

“That’s a great idea!” She eagerly ran towards the door, and swung it open.

Immediately, she was greeted with an awful smell. She thought the smell of the burnt air outside was awful, but this was easily worse. She covered her mouth and gagged, trying her best not to throw up. She took a few deep breaths and finally straightened up. She was big kid. She could handle an awful smell.

“Dad?” She asked. All she got was silence. The room was an absolute disaster. The back window had completely shattered, and shards of glass lay scattered all across the scuffed wooden floor. The ceiling had almost completely caved in, and she could see the overcast sky through the large holes.

“May, I don’t think-”

“Dad?” She repeated, a little bit louder this time. She stepped forward, the glass crunching beneath her feet as she walked. Most of the mess was in the center of the room, where a great amount of the roof had piled up. Beneath the wooden beams and chunks of plaster the once shiny floor had been scuffed up, and she noticed a strange, dark red stain covering it. She noticed her dad’s sandal was over turned a few inches away from the pile. She crept closer, getting a better look at the stack of rubbish, and beneath it, she saw an incredibly pale mangled leg.

Before she had the time to process what she had just seen, Archie came up from behind her and covered her eyes with his large hand.

“May, don’t look.” He said. She was short and couldn’t see much over the pile, but he could see most of what had happened. Norman had been crushed alive by the fallen roof and had become an unrecognizable, gruesome mess. Based on the awful smell, Archie could assume that he had probably died on day one.

“Dad…?” May asked again, but Archie could hear her voice waver, and she could feel herself begin to shake.

“Scamp, I… I don’t think your dad made it out.” He said, as gently as he could. “We… we should go.” May didn’t protest when he turned her around and guided her back out the door. She barely even registered that she was moving. The world around her seemed just as empty and black as her vision. Her dad… was gone? No, that’s not what he did. He was always okay. He was always so strong and tough, nothing bad ever happened to him. He always had everything under control…

As soon as Archie shut the door behind them, he finally lifted his hand from May’s face. He crouched down so he was at her level, but she didn’t look him directly in the eye. He couldn’t be here. He _shouldn’t_ be here. This was dad’s gym. Dad should be here, quiet as he meditated in his room, waiting for ambitious trainers to try and challenge him. But Archie was here. He was standing right in front of her, and this was all really happening. Her dad was dead; that was all there was to it. She remained silent, taking in slow, shuddering breaths as she tried not to cry.

“Ya gonna be okay?” Archie finally asked.

“Y-yes.” She stammered, nodding furiously. “I’m fine, I’m…”

“Is there anything ya need me to do?” Archie asked.

“Can you…” She took another deep breath, clenching her hands into fists. She didn’t want to cry in front of him, not again. Especially not in dad’s gym. Dad hated it when she cried, and it’d be embarrassing to do it twice in one day. She thought about her dad, all alone and crushed in that room, and said, “C-can you… get that stuff off of him? He shouldn’t… he shouldn’t just be left there like that, I… I…”

“It’s okay, scamp, I understand.” He said.

“I-I can help you, if you want me to…”

“Absolutely not. That’s not somethin’ you should have to do.” He said, reaching out and gently patting her on the shoulder. “Just… hang out in here. Or by the front entrance. I think there’s more space up there for ya. Okay?”

“Okay…” She nodded. Archie got up and opened the door to Norman’s room again, and she couldn’t help but imagine the rubble crashing down and killing Archie, too. “Archie, please be careful. Please.”

“I will. Don’t ya worry.”

May headed back towards the front entrance after that, determining she didn’t want to be so near her father’s grave. She needed to find a place to be by herself. She felt… numb. Tired. She was utterly exhausted. Just outside she could see the cloudy sky starting to get darker. It was hard to believe that it had only been a single day since she had set out with Archie. In a single day she lost her dad, Brendan, Professor Birch and who knew how many others. This was just day one. Who knew how many horrible, exhausting days lay ahead of her on her way to her mother. And what if her mom wasn’t even alive when she got to Lilycove? It was certainly a possibility. With all the death she had faced so far, it wouldn’t even come as a surprise. She collapsed onto the tatami mat in the front entrance, and buried her head in her hands. She whimpered, and felt the first few hot tears fall onto her palms.

It only lasted for a moment; she quickly sat up and wiped her eyes, refusing to let herself cry anymore. This was her dad’s gym, and if there was anything her dad detested, it was weakness. There was a reason he spent so little time at home; he needed to be at the gym, making himself and his pokemon as strong as they could be. He hated weakness in himself, and he hated weakness in those around him, too. He would send trainers away if he deemed them as being too weak to even try and fight him. He expected the best out of May, and tended to get disappointed whenever she faltered in anything; be it grades, housework, etc. But there was nothing more he disliked than when she cried. She could almost hear her dad’s voice echoing in her mind, criticizing her for crying. Only weak people, desperate for pity and attention did that. She didn't want to be like that.

She needed to be stronger. She needed to be strong on her own, in case something happened. Sure, she had Archie, and while she did greatly appreciate his help, who knew how long he was going to keep her around? He was searching for his friend, and was going to drop her off at Lilycove. That was all. It never occurred to her that there was a chance that that might not happen. If she was left all alone… what would she do? She reached for her belt, and tossed Mudkip and Ralts’ pokeballs in the air. The two creatures popped out and looked at each other in confusion, before eventually turning to May and smiling at her. Their enthusiasm was almost enough to get a smile out of her. Almost.

“Ralts, I know you know, but Mudkip doesn’t.” She began. “The world is a mess right now. Brendan didn’t make it… even Dad didn’t make it. It’s a miracle the three of us are fine… but who knows how long that’ll last? If we’re going to survive, I’m… _we’re_ … gonna have to get stronger.”

* * *

 

When Archie finally showed up at the front entrance, May didn’t even notice him. She had been too busy training her pokemon to even look up. She had had her two pokemon practice attacking the gym statue over and over again as if it were an enemy pokemon so that they could practice their moves and teamwork. She was putting the statue back into place for the umpteenth time when she finally noticed Archie had entered the room.

“Kid… what’re ya doing?” He asked.

“Training.” May replied. “Sorry for the mess. Mudkip’s water gun tends to get everywhere.”

“What made ya decide to do that?”

“Dad’s gone.” She said. She returned Mudkip and Ralts to their pokeballs, and strapped them to her belt. “And there’s no way of knowing if mom will be in Lilycove or not. If I end up alone, I can either cry about it like a dumb little kid, or make myself stronger.”

“Whoa, scamp…” Archie stammered. “Ya don’t need to be worryin’ about that. Your mom will definitely be there!!”

“You don’t know that.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing. Let’s just go.” She fake yawned and wiped her dry eyes, hoping it was convincing enough. “I’m tired.”                                                                                           

“Uh... Me too, kid. Let’s see if we can find a place to stay for the night.” They stepped out of the gym and back into the thick, muggy air. Even in the evening, the heat didn’t subside, and it was still uncomfortably warm and sticky the moment they got outside. They walked for a while in silence, with Archie uncomfortably glancing from her to the ash-covered sidewalk ahead, waiting for her to say something. “Is there anythin’ ya wanna talk about, scamp?”

“No.” She said curtly, keeping her eyes ahead of her.

“Are ya sure, I mean-”

“It’s fine.” She said.

“But-”

“May?” Both of them were surprised that it wasn’t her cutting Archie off this time. A few paces ahead of them, a woman stood, looking quizzically at May in particular. A pair of goggles obscured her eyes, but May could see her short, pale green hair hanging just above her shoulders. The woman came closer, and knelt down to May’s level. “May, is that you?”

“You’re… Wanda?” May asked.

“Goodness, it’s so nice to see you!!” She wrapped her arms around May and gave her a tight squeeze. “Oh, Wally will be so happy to hear that you’re okay!!”

“Wally?” May perked up at that. “He’s okay?”

“As okay as he can be, considering.” She shrugged. “But he’ll be so happy to see you! Think you can stop by for a bit and say hi?”

“Well…” May paused, glancing back at Archie hesitantly. “My friend and I were looking for a place to stay for the night. Is it okay if we…?”

“There should be plenty of room for the two of you.” Wanda smiled and took May by the hand. “But come on! Ohh, I can’t wait! Wally could really use some good news!!”

The three of them headed to Wally’s house and found it to be in pretty good shape, all things considered. Just like all of the buildings May had encountered, the walls were littered with cracks and a few of the windows were cracked, but otherwise the place was sturdy. When they got inside, May noticed most of the furniture was in tact, too, save for a broken chair in the corner and one collapsed pantry in the kitchen. However, a roselia sat on the center of the table, using flash to illuminate the otherwise dark room.

“Make yourselves at home.” Wanda said, gesturing to the room. “Sorry it’s a bit… messy. What can you do?” May and Archie set their things down and, for the first time in what felt like forever, got to take off their goggles and bandannas. At least, May did. Archie kept his goggles on for now, and May could probably guess as to why.

“Thanks for invitin’ us in. We really appreciate it.” Archie said.

“Of course, stranger!” Wanda paused, and finally seemed to take notice of Archie for the first time. “Who might you be, anyways?”

“I’m, uh-” May noticed Archie freezing up, and quickly spoke up.

“He’s one of my dad’s friends from college.” May lied.

“He is?” Wanda leaned in closer to Archie, and inspected him up and down. Archie looked a little nervous, but didn’t say anything. “What’s your name, Mr. College friend?”

“Uh, it’s Aogiri.” He replied nervously. “You can just call me Archie, though.”

“Wanda…” May said, before Wanda could interrogate Archie any further, “Where’s Wally? I wanna see him!”

“He’s upstairs, sweetie. Poor thing hasn’t been able to leave the bed much since this all began. With the air so bad, we can’t even have him going outside!” She smiled at May. “That’s why I’m so happy you’re here; he could really use some friendly company.”

“Okay. Thank you, Wanda!” May quickly ran up the stairs to Wally’s room. When she arrived in his room, she was almost taken aback by his appearance. It had been about two weeks since she had last played with him and Brendan, but in that short time, he looked significantly worse. His skin had always been pale, but now it had become a sickly gray color and was covered in a thin layer of sweat. His pale green hair was matted and messy; he definitely hadn’t left that bed in awhile. He was propped up on a couple of pillows, and was blinking his eyes shut slowly, trying his best not to fall asleep. When he caught sight of May, he perked up a little, and struggled to sit up and get a better look.

“May…?” He asked. His voice was hoarse and weak. “Is that you?”

“Hey, Wally.” May noticed the chair had been moved from his desk and was sitting about a foot away from the bed. She was going to take the chair for herself, but noticed a ralts was already occupying it and was using flash to light up the room. She took to standing instead, and stared down at Wally awkwardly.

“You can move Ralts, if you want.” Wally replied. “He won’t mind.”

“Thanks. My feet are killing me!” She picked the ralts up gently, and placed him on the foot of his bed.

“It’s really you, right?” Wally asked.

“Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Never mind. I’m just really happy that you’re here! The only one I’ve seen recently is Wanda. All she ever talks about is her boyfriend!”

“That can’t be all she talks about.”

“Well, no, but… it’s much more fun being with you and Brendan. You guys seem to know all sorts of stuff about pokemon! Where is Brendan, anyways? Have you heard from him at all?”

“Uh…” Brendan’s name caught May off guard and effectively dampened her mood. She wasn’t sure whether to tell Wally or not. Part of her figured it was the right thing to do; Wally has been in the dark this entire week, and he needed to grow up and face the truth, just like she did. But, on the other hand… Wally was only seven and already he was bedridden and incredibly sick. How much more bad news could he really handle? “I wasn’t able to find him. I think he and the professor ran off somewhere!”

“Oh, really?” Wally sighed. “Well, I’m sure he’s okay. He’ll probably turn up soon May, don’t worry!”

“I’m sure he will…” May said, idly playing with Brendan’s bracelet. She let her eyes wander, unable to look Wally in the eye as she lied. Her eyes rested upon the ralts on his bed, and the creature smiled back at her and nodded. “Is the ralts Wanda’s?”

"Nope. Norman helped me catch him earlier!"

“Dad did that?” May asked.

“Yeah! Why?”

“Doesn’t sound like him.” May shrugged it off, but she couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit jealous. She remembered begging her dad for a pokemon multiple times, but he always refused, saying that she needed to be older and more mature before she could even dream of it. How come Wally got one when he just asked?

“He’s really cute, don’t you think? One day, he’s gonna be the toughest gallade out there!”

“Gallade?” May gasped. “But gardevoir is sooo much cooler!”

“Is not!”

“Is too!”

“Is-” Wally was cut off by a violent coughing fit. He put his ralts down and coughed into his arm. It took a moment for the coughs to cease, and even when they did, he continued to gasp and wheeze.

“Wally?” May asked, nervously putting her hand on his back. “Is there something I can do to help?”

“W…water…” Wally gasped. He lifted his skinny arm and pointed to an empty glass that sat beside his bed. “Ple…ase… water…”

“Right. Right! Got it! Hang on, Wally!” She grabbed mudkip’s pokeball from her belt, and tossed it towards the bed. Mudkip popped out and looked at May expectantly. “Mudkip, fill up Wally’s glass with water gun!” Mudkip nodded and obeyed, and May quickly handed the glass to Wally. He drank it down quickly and took a couple more shaky breaths before his breathing finally evened out.

“I’m sorry…” He said.

“It’s okay. Are you okay?” May asked.

“Y-yeah. The air’s just a little bad.” Mudkip looked at Wally with concern, and crawled up to sit beside him. “Heya, mudkip. You look a little bigger since the last time I saw you!”

“Well, I have been training him. I even got a ralts, too! You wanna see her?”

“Yes!!” May smirked and released ralts from her pokeball. Ralts soon joined mudkip and the other ralts on the bed, which she looked at with curiosity. “Wow, did you catch Ralts yourself?!”

“Yeah! I found her on the way here, actually.”

“That’s so cool!! Man, as soon as everything returns to normal, I’m gonna challenge you and Brendan to a battle! What do you say?” He held his hand out for May to shake. She hesitated for a moment, but finally took it and nodded.

“Sure, Wally.” May said. But she knew that there was no way she could keep that promise.

She and Wally chatted for a while about pokemon, mostly. It was Wally’s biggest dream to become a world-renowned trainer, and May enjoyed the conversation well enough, not wanting to talk about anything currently happening. Eventually he tired out and drifted off to sleep, and May, who was exhausted as well, fell asleep in the chair beside him.

She dreamt she was with Brendan. The two of them were running through a grass plain. He was leading her, holding her sweaty hand tightly in his. They were running quickly, their heavy footsteps trampling the grass below them. May looked back behind her and saw nothing. Even Littleroot was gone; swallowed up but the darkness that seemed to be everywhere except where they stepped.

“Where are we going?” May asked. “Brendan, what are we running from? Brendan!” Brendan didn’t respond; he didn’t even look back at her. He was holding her hand so tightly it was beginning to hurt. “Brendan, let go!!” She planted her feet firmly on the ground and pulled back hard, finally slipping her hand out of his and pushing him back. He fell backwards a few steps ahead of her and vanished into the darkness. “Brendan…?” She asked. She stepped forward, but he wasn’t there. She had seen him fall in front of him. He couldn’t have run off that fast. Where did he go? “Brendan?” She called out louder but got no response.

She continued further into the darkness, the world only illuminating around her form. She didn’t see anyone. No pokemon, no people, nothing. It was eerily quiet around her, so much so she became aware of the sound of her breathing and her heart pumping. Was she the only one left? Did everyone else in the world vanish without her? Was she the reason everyone was gone? Was she the reason Brendan was gone, too?

“Brendan, I’m sorry!” She shouted. “Please, come back, I hate this! Brendan!”

When she awoke, she was warm and covered in sweat. Someone had moved her from the seat beside Wally’s bed and placed her in a futon in the living room. Normally, she would’ve appreciated the gesture; but with the broiling state the world was in, she felt like she was cooking alive under the heavy sheet. She pushed the sheet down a little bit and wiped her sweaty brow. Brendan’s bracelet hit her forehead as she did so, and she grimaced. She knew that what had happened yesterday was real, that it had really, truly happened, but the childish part of her wanted to believe that she had collapsed from a cold while playing with Brendan and all of this was some feverish dream. But Brendan’s bracelet was on her wrist, she was on the floor in Wally’s house and the air was still muggy and filled with ashes and dirt. It was all real.

“Good mornin’, scamp!” Archie exclaimed. He sat down beside her futon and smiled. “Did ya sleep well?”

“I… I guess so.” May replied.

“Well, I brought ya some breakfast! You must be starving!” He placed a tray down before her with a bowl of cereal and a glass of water. “Sorry there’s no milk. With no power there’s no fridges and all of it’s gone bad.” May hadn’t eaten in nearly a day but she still didn’t feel hungry in the slightest. It was too warm, too tedious and she found she had no appetite. Besides, she had training to do. There was only one way to ensure she didn’t end up all alone like she did in her dream, and that was by making herself and her pokemon stronger.

“Thanks.” She said. She took the glass of water and drank it down quickly, then got out of bed.

“Aren’t ya gonna have somethin’ to eat?” Archie asked.

“Maybe later. I have training I need to get to.” She found her pokeballs a few feet away from her futon, placed neatly against the wall. She picked them up and clipped them to her belt.

“But-”

“Let me know when you’re ready to go. I’ll be at the gym.” She left before Archie could stop her.

They spent the next two days in Petalburg. Wanda explained that she had been visiting Wally’s mother when the heat wave struck, and soon afterwards Wally’s mother had set out in search for her husband and hadn’t returned yet. Normally, Wanda would be able to handle it, but having to take care of Wally and the house and find food and water for the two of them was turning out to be quite difficult. So Archie, ever the helper, agreed to stay a little bit longer just to help her get things sorted out. Besides, Wally could really use the company of someone around his age.

If she would ever spend time with him. May spent most of the day away in the gym, training her pokemon as best as she could with what she had. She was good about returning before the sunset, and she would gladly spend time with Wally when she returned and talked the night away with him, but otherwise she was rarely seen throughout the day.

When May woke up on the morning they’d be leaving, she found a note placed neatly beside her futon. The cloudy sky was just starting to light up outside, and she couldn’t hear anyone up in the kitchen or upstairs. It must have still been early. She opened the note and squinted at the messy handwriting before her.

_May,_

_I have your beloved pokemon! If you ever want to see them again, meet me at the gym!_

_-Archie_

She noticed he had scribbled a little drawing of a pokemon by his name, but she didn’t recognize it. It was round and had weirdly shaped fins, and Archie had even drawn the body of water it was poking its head out of. May rolled her eyes at the note. Was this really Archie’s idea of being funny or clever? Or was he actually trying to be intimidating? Because if he was, it wasn’t working. She grabbed her shoes, goggles and bandanna and headed out towards the gym.

The moment she got inside, she was drenched. She wiped the water off her face and glared. Archie was in the back corner of the room, crouching behind one of the gym statues, which he had moved himself. Sitting beside him was a pile of colorful water balloons. He grabbed another water balloon and tossed it up in the air and caught it again.

“Got ya.” He said with a snicker.

“What are you doing?” May asked.

“What’s it look like? I’m havin’ a water balloon fight.”

“But… _why_?” May asked. “Where did you even get those?”

“I found ‘em at Wally’s house, and Wanda said I could have ‘em.” Archie said. And mudkip was more than willin’ to fill ‘em up for me.” Mudkip strolled out from behind Archie and smiled at her.

“Mudkip…” She groaned. “This isnt’ what I’ve been training you for!”

“He’s not the one ya should be worried about!” He threw another water balloon at her, and May jumped to the side, narrowly dodging it.

“Archie, that’s no fair!” May shouted.

“You’re right, you’re right. Sorry about that. Let’s make it equal. Ralts?” May hadn’t even noticed her ralts; she was hidden behind the exceptionally large pile of water balloons. Using psychic, Ralts brought about half of the pile over to May’s side, making sure to place them down on the wooden floor without them popping.

“Are you serious?” May asked.

“Absolutely! We might as well have some fun before we head out anyways. Whaddaya say, May?”

“Hmm…” May lifted up one of the water balloons and gazed at it lazily. She knew she had a million and a half other things she could be doing. She knew that she didn’t have time for childish games like this… but if Archie, an adult, was advocating playing, then it couldn’t be that bad, right? “I’d say… that that statue isn’t gonna block out much!” She chucked the balloon at Archie, who barely ducked behind the statue in time. The balloon still hit his arm and splattered him with water.

“No fair! Ya didn’t say start!” Archie protested.

“You didn’t say start when I came in!” May argued, throwing another. She missed; but this balloon hit Mudkip, who jumped back in surprise. “Oops...! Sorry, Mudkip!” Archie used her apology as another chance to attack. He threw a balloon and hit her leg, getting her shoes and socks all wet.

“Hey! No fair!” She threw one back, hitting his arm and soaking his sleeve.

Their little battle continued on for quite some time, and by the time it was over, the gym’s front entrance was covered in water. Her dad would’ve been appalled; he liked keeping his gym in pristine condition, to the point where the floors were so clean that one could see their own reflection in them. She found that at the moment, she didn’t care about that. What she cared about was getting one last good shot at Archie. While they had both gotten soaked, Archie had done a little better. His aim was bad, likely due to his impaired eyesight, but what he lacked in aim he made up for with strength. He’d throw the water balloons so hard that even if May dodged, they’d still explode against the floor or the wall and get her wet in the process.

She was crouching behind one of the gym statues, clutching a water balloon in her hands. This was the last one she had. This would have to be it. Archie was a big guy; he was sure to make an easy target. If she just focused and remembered how her mom had taught her to aim while playing baseball… she could do this.

She finally ran out from behind the statue, and noticed Archie was already ready to go.

“I got ya this time, scamp!” He shouted. He threw the balloon at her, and she quickly ducked and dodged it.

“I don’t think so!” She tossed her balloon as hard as she could and hit him smack in the center of his chest. He looked startled for a moment, before clutching at his chest as if he were having a heart attack.

“O-oh no, ya got me!!” He crumpled to the floor and lay on his back, faking a coughing fit. “This is it! Th-this is the end!!” He continued to gag a little bit longer before finally dying, shutting his eyes and letting his hand hit the floor beneath him with a loud smack.

May observed his dramatic display in silence, but once he finally stopped fake convulsing, she broke into laughter. It started out quiet; a few giggles that she tried to suppress it and keep quiet, but soon it turned into full out laughter, and she could even feel a few tears in her eyes as she laughed. Archie still didn’t open his eyes, but May noticed his lips form a small smile.

“That’s what I like to hear.” Archie said.

“I thought you were dead!” May said, wiping a few tears from her eyes.

“I _am_ dead. I’m a ghost talkin’ to ya now. Ooooooo.” That just made May laugh even more. She strolled over towards him and sat down a few feet away from where he was laying.

“Why is me laughing what you like to hear?” She asked. “I’m laughing at your funeral.”

“I don’t mind that. I’m just happy to see ya laughin’.” He said. “We’ve all been so worried about ya.”

“Who’s we?” May asked. That had certainly caught her off guard. Why in the world would anyone be worried about her?

“Me. Wanda. And of course your lil’ friend Wally, too.”

“Why are you guys worried about me?”

“Why wouldn’t we be? We hardly ever see ya, kiddo. It’s worrisome! And all this obsession with gettin’ stronger… you’re a kid. Ya realize that, right?”

“Kids can be strong, too.”

“Don’t I know it.” Archie replied. “But ya don’t need to worry about it this much. You’re already plenty strong!”

“You really think so?”

“I know so. You’ve been through more in one day than most people have in their entire life times. That’s not somethin’ to scoff at.”

“But I cried.” May argued. “I cried like a dumb little kid the other day.”

“What’s so wrong with cryin’?” Archie asked. “I teared up at a movie about a kid gettin’ reunited with his bidoof after bein’ separated for years. And this was only a couple months ago. Like I said before, there’s no shame in cryin’.”

“That’s not what dad always said.” May sighed. “Dad said that the only people who cry are the weak ones, and it’s ‘cause they wanna get attention or for you to feel sorry for them. I don’t wanna be like that.”

“Is that really what he said?” Archie asked. May nodded. “That’s awful. You’re just a lil’ kid. If you’re feelin’ sad why not show it?”

“He just wanted me to be strong. My dad was a super strong trainer. I think he wanted to make sure I was strong just like him. I don’t wanna let him down.” She pulled her knees up to her chest and didn’t say anything else. She didn’t really want to talk about her dad anymore. Not for a while. “I don’t wanna be alone, either.”

“Listen, May…” Archie said, finally sitting up. “What ya said to me the other day about not knowin’ whether or not your mom would be okay… You were right. With the way this world is, I don’t know that we’ll find your mom. I can’t even be sure that Maxie’s okay. I can’t control any of that. But I can promise to stay with ya for as long as I can. Or at least until I know you’re in a safe place. I promise I’m not gonna leave ya all by yourself.”

May wanted to believe him. She really, truly wanted to believe those words and let her worries cease, but how could she? Archie was just a guy, and he had even said it himself: he had no idea what was going to happen, and no guarantee of anything. He was just some overtly kind stranger that came across a pathetic little kid and decided to help. He wasn’t a god; he could sugar coat his words as much as he pleased, but nothing he said was set in stone.

“But what if something happens to you? What if you…” May stopped, unable to bring herself to say ‘die’.

“Nothin’s gonna happen to me.” Archie said with a smile. “You’ve seen my mess of a face. If this world wanted me out, it would’ve done so already. I’m like a skitty; those things got, what… nine lives, right? I’ve got a solid seven left, give or take a few.” May chuckled at that. “Don’t be worryin’ about it so much, scamp. That’s why I brought ya here. Ya need a break and a chance to have a lil’ fun. Sorry for takin’ your pokemon.”

“It’s okay.” May replied.

“Ya think you’re ready to go?” Archie said, finally standing up. He held his hand out to her to help her up.

“Yeah, I think so.” She took his hand and stood up. She then returned Mudkip and Ralts to their pokeballs and clipped them to her belt. They headed back to Wally’s house to wish him and Wanda one final goodbye. Much to their surprise, Wally had actually gotten out of bed for this. He couldn’t see them to the gate, but he actually came downstairs and gave May a gentle hug before she left.

“I’m sorry for spending so much time at the gym, Wally.” May had apologized, hugging him back.

“It’s okay. I kinda get why.” Wally said.

“You do?” Wally pulled away from her and nodded.

“Of course! If I could, I’d be training my ralts super hard too!” He grinned. “I’m excited to see how strong your mudkip and ralts have gotten. Next time I see you, we have to have a battle, okay?” May noticed he didn’t bring up Brendan this time, and something told her that he had figured it out. Maybe he really did understand why she had been in the gym all day.

“I already promised you I would, didn’t I?”

Archie and May headed out soon after that, deciding it was best they leave before it got too dark out. If they were lucky, they could get to Route 110 before the sun set. Truth be told, she was still nervous about it all. Archie had said he could live forever, but she was still worried that something could happen to the two of them. Everything was still up in the air, and anything could still happen. A promise was nothing but words. 

“Hey scamp,” Archie said, pointing ahead of them at a sign near the road towards Route 102, “I’ll race ya to that sign.”

“You’re on.” She replied with a smirk. Yes, May was still worried, but she found that she was feeling better. She wasn’t completely okay, and she wasn’t sure if she’d ever really be. She still missed Brendan and her dad, but if she could smile and not worry about things for even a slight instant, then she figured she’d be all right. She still had a long road ahead of her, and she wasn't about to give up yet. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be the longest chapter for quite some time. lmao I got a bit carried away there didn't i ^^'  
> one thing I thought I'd clarify tho: I kinda wrote Norman as being a bit... harsh. I did so because in the games he gave me that vibe, and for any of you who read the pokemon manga, you know that that is definitely the case. I didn't want to go to the extent that the manga did considering that this is based off of ORAS and not pokespe, but... I just thought I'd say that.  
> Anyways, thanks for the positive feedback thus far. I really appreciate it! :')


	4. Route 110

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know if you think this chapter warrants the "graphic depiction of violence" tag or not. I don't think it gets that bad but i will be happy to add it if needed.

It took them about a day to get from Petalburg back to Oldale then up to Route 110. Normally, this could be done in just a few hours, but with the way the world was now, it was simply impossible to navigate at night. The heavy cloud cover that stayed even during the night blocked out any and all light from the stars and moon; making it impossible to see. They stayed the night in an empty, abandoned house in Oldale and reached Route 110 by morning.

“Whoa…” May said, gazing at the long road ahead of her.

“Whoa is right.” Archie agreed.

Before them lay the remains of the Seaside Cycling Road. Most of it, surprisingly, was intact. Sure, the thing had been built to stay sturdy, even in the case of earthquakes, but it certainly wasn’t ready for a multitude of them at once. There were a few parts of the track that had fallen and were piled up on the dead grass of the route below. May had expected that. Everywhere they went, the buildings had been damaged, in some cases even completely demolished from the quakes. What really shocked her was the sight of the sea. The pond on Route 102 being dried up had surprised her, but she certainly wasn’t ready for the ocean to be the same. The beautiful sea had become nothing but a pit of slightly dried dirt, riddled with the rotting bodies of the water pokemon that had died once the water evaporated. All of the water was gone, creating deep trenches in the land between the winding footpaths.

“Ya gonna be okay?” Archie asked. May felt a hand rest upon her shoulder.

“Yeah. I just wasn’t ready for… this.” May said, gesturing to the wide expanse of dried, cracking dirt.

“I’m still not used to it.” Archie said with a sigh. “The sea… look what’s become of it. It’s awful. Just… awful.” She could hear Archie’s voice crack ever so slightly. That was strange; throughout this entire journey, Archie seemed to be handling everything well. Demolished homes, distraught people… he even uncovered a body without much hesitance. Why in the world was the ocean the thing that upset him?

“Archie, do you like the ocean?” May finally said.

“Yeah, kiddo, I really do.” Archie replied, removing his goggles for a moment to wipe his eyes. “It feels like home, y’know? It makes me feel relaxed and at ease… I dunno. Probably doesn’t make much sense, does it?”

“No, I get it.” May said. “I’m actually from Olivine City. We lived right by the ocean, and I remember I could hear the waves if I kept my window open. It’s kinda hard to sleep without it.”

“You’re from Olivine?” Archie asked. May nodded. “I’ve never been. I’ve heard it’s beautiful, though.”

“It really was.”

The two of them continued onwards, deciding to go up the cycling road path over the winding dirt trails. That way, there wasn’t too much debris for them to have to climb over. Plus, Archie figured, the further the two of them were from the rotting fish pokemon, the better. May had been on the cycling road many times before, and she had each twist and curve memorized, but it was strange to be traveling it by foot. She really liked riding her bike up here. She remembered that sometimes her mom would drop Brendan and her off here while she shopped at the Slateport market. Riding her bike here had always felt refreshing. She loved being up high and being able to see all of Hoenn, from the tall intimidating Mt. Chiminey to the sparkling sea below her. Despite the stretch being nearly ten miles, it never got too hot; the sea breeze would keep her cool as she sped on by, the chirps of wingull and pelipper orchestrating the whole thing. May wanted to ride through it again. The urge to pick up one of the overturned bikes that were scattered across the path and ride it herself was overwhelming, but she stayed put. Besides, most of those bikes looked too big for her anyways.

“Did ya ever come up here before, scamp?” Archie asked. He was a few feet ahead of her and he seemed to notice her gazing idly at one of the collapsed bicycles.

“Lots of times.” May replied, catching back up with him. “Mom would take me and Brendan here every once in awhile when she shopped in Slateport. She’d even give us some money to get some ice cream at Mauville. It was super good!”

“You biked up here all by yourself?” Archie gasped.

“Well, Brendan was there, too. But we had our own bikes.”

“Still impressive. I never could get a hang of those things.”

“Archie…” She paused, holding back a laugh. “You don’t know how to ride a bike?”

“Hey, don’t make fun of me!” Archie snapped. “I never had a reason to! Spent all my free time swimmin’ in the sea. Why waste your time ridin’ a bike when ya got the whole ocean in front of ya?”

“Well I like biking. It gets me places faster.” May argued. “Have you ridden up here before? Ever?”

“One time.” Archie chuckled. “And I’m never doin’ that again.”

“Awww, why not?”

“Maxie forced me up here. Said he needed somethin’ from Mauville and wanted me to come with. And if Maxie wants somethin’, he always finds a way of gettin’ it. Well, I didn’t own a bike myself, and Maxie refused to travel through the path below so…” Archie chuckled. “I want ya to visualize it. Maxie’s a skinny thing, he only comes up to here.” Archie held his hand up a little above his shoulder. “And I was clingin’ to him while he biked all the way down to Mauville. We fell over a couple times; it was pretty embarrassing. Maxie wouldn’t let me hear the end of it!”

“Were you two from Slateport?” May asked.

“Yup. Born and raised. Well… at least, I was. Max was from Lavaridge. Makes sense too; like I said, the guy hates the ocean.”

“How can someone hate the ocean?” May asked.

“Beats me. He just didn’t like it. I guess in his defense, I’m the same way with the mountains.”

“You don’t like the mountains?”

“Can’t stand ‘em. The air’s all hard to breathe, ya get thirsty really easily, and there’s always the chance you could slip and fall. Speakin’ of which…”

He trailed off, and May noticed that a couple feet ahead of them, the track was broken; one of the beams had fallen, causing a part of the track to collapse to the ground. There was a gap between their platform and the next that was only a couple feet across. Surely they’d make it all right.

“Think we can jump it?” Archie asked. May could tell he already knew the answer, and was only asking for her sake.

“Yeah, I think so.” May said, nodding. It wasn’t that far a jump. But despite it all, she found herself nervous. She never really considered heights to be much of a fear; she liked places that were high up and being able to see the view from afar. She remembered visiting the Glittering Lighthouse in Olivine City countless times so she could see the view. However, this was the first time she had ever been in a high up place, fairly unsupervised, with the possibility of actually falling. She couldn’t help but look down at the nauseating view; if she fell, it was a straight plummet to a pile of hard rubble and debris.

“I’ll go first.” Archie said.

“Okay… be careful.”

He readjusted his bandanna, and tightened it, then backed up a couple feet. He broke into a sprint, and leapt to the other side, landing square on his feet. The platform shook a little beneath him, but otherwise nothing happened.

“Here, I’ll catch ya!” He said. He turned back to May, and held his arms out, trying to look as reassuring as he could. “Trust me, it’ll be okay!”

“I know! I know, just… gimme a second.” She couldn’t stop the image of the ground below from popping into her mind, and she couldn’t stop imagining how much it would hurt if she were to fall… She gulped and took a deep breath. No, she had to do this. It was far too early to give up! She took a couple more heavy breaths before backing up and finally dashing forward. She squeezed her eyes shut as she jumped over the gap. Part of her truly believed she was going to die; she wasn’t going to jump far enough, she was going to fall through that gap and plummet to her death.

Luckily, that part of her was wrong, and when she finally opened her eyes, she found herself being held up in Archie’s arms.

“See? Wasn’t so bad, was it?” Archie replied with a chuckle. He turned around and placed her back on the cycling road. She breathed a sigh of relief the moment her feet touched the ground, and the two of them continued forwards.

“Yeah, I know.” She finally said. 

“Took a lot of bravery to do that, though. I wouldn’t have been able to do it when I was your age.”

“Why? Were you afraid of heights or something?”

“Horribly.” Archie chuckled. “But Maxie made me go mountain climbin’ with him over and over again, so it got a little better. Still not a fan, but at least I’m not shaking at the sight of it anymore.”

“Say, Archie,” May asked, “who is Maxie, anyways? Is he your friend or a relative or something?”

“Hmm…” He brought his hand to his chin and thought for a moment. “Well, we’re not related. I guess he’s my friend?”

“What do you mean ‘I guess’? He either is or he’s not, right?”

“It’s more complicated than that.” Even though his face was hidden with the bandanna, May could tell from his tone of voice that he was smiling. “We were best friends when we were little kids. We did everything together. We traveled all across Hoenn together, and even caught our first pokemon together."

"What were they?" May asked.

"Matching zubats. They're both crobats, now." Archie replied, tapping one of the pokeballs strapped to his belt. We were inseparable! I even… I mean, I _almost_ asked him out on a date a couple of times."

"Almost?" May asked. "Why didn't you?"

"Well, I've been meanin' to, but... stuff came up, bad timing..." He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "That, and I'm a nervous wreck when it comes to that kinda thing."

"You don't seem that nervous."

"You'd be surprised." He laughed. "But anyways, I remember the two of us had big dreams. We used to stay up late, talkin’ about how we were gonna change Hoenn for the better one day. ...But we also got into arguments a lot. They say there’s no good relationship without its’ problems, but…" He sighed. "We got into a big fight one time after college. It was real bad, too. We blew up at each other, said some real nasty things and we… we just didn’t talk to each other for a couple years after that. It took awhile, but I eventually tried to confront him and speak to him again and get him to listen, but then...” He gestured to the dead, dry, ash filled landscape that surrounded them. “Look, you’re young, so I’m gonna tell ya now before ya make the same mistakes I did: if ya fight with someone, don’t be too proud to try and make up. Even if you think you’re right. Doesn’t mean ya gotta change your mind. Try to talk it through calmly, if ya can. If the two of us could’ve just _talked_ instead of bein’ so stubborn… if maybe we had taken the time to think things through instead of bein’ so foolish… then maybe…”

May got the impression that he wasn’t really talking to her anymore. Whatever Archie and Maxie had fought about must’ve been huge. It was clear Archie felt awful about it, and she couldn’t blame him. She and Brendan argued a lot, but they usually felt bad and made up before the day’s end. She couldn’t even imagine doing something so bad that it would make Brendan not want to talk to her for years and vice versa. Even though Brendan was gone, she was thankful she left off with him on a high note. She didn’t want to think about how much more devastating it’d be if she had lost him in the midst of a fight.

She was curious as to what the two of them had fought about; of what could have possibly been so horrible to make two people who were so close to one another not want to speak again for years. But based on the troubled look in his eye, she decided it was a question best left unanswered for now.

“I’m sure you’ll find him.” May said. She reached up and patted him on the back. “And when we do, you can make up with him! And then… and then maybe we could hang out, and I can battle him! You said you guys caught your first pokemon together, right? What else does he have?” May’s optimism clearly lifted his mood, and he chuckled.

“A camerupt. Well, he caught it when it was a numel, but y’know. He also had a mightyena, and a weezing... but camerupt was definitely his favorite.”

“Think I could beat him?” 

“You’d beat the tar out of him!” Archie exclaimed. “Choosin’ mudkip was a good choice.”

“Thanks.” May replied, stroking mudkip’s pokeball affectionately. “Do you think Maxie would like me?”

“Hmm… It might take awhile. He's not as much of a socialite as me. But I think he’d like ya sooner or later.” Archie replied. “He takes awhile to warm up to people, but honestly the real issue is whether or not you’d like him.”

“Why wouldn’t I? If he’s your friend, he’s gotta be a good person!” May said. Archie didn’t respond. “Right?”

“…Yeah.” Archie stopped in his tracks, letting out a deep sigh. “Kid, I-”

Before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by a horrible, loud rumbling noise that accompanied the violent tremors bellow them. The ground shook violently, causing the cracked track below their feet to shake as well.

“Shit!” Archie cursed. “Grab on to somethin’, scamp!” May nodded hurriedly, too scared to point out his language. He grabbed onto one of the guardrails and crouched down, and May followed suit, just a few feet away from him. She hissed in pain the moment her hands made contact with the scorching hot metal, but she gritted her teeth and made sure to hang on tight; burning her hands was nothing in comparison to being knocked around by the earthquake. 

The shaking was relentless and it was far more violent than she had remembered back in her home. At least when she was in her home she was on solid ground instead of nearly three stories up in the air above a cracked, desolate ocean. She clenched her eyes shut like she always did during the earthquakes. It was dizzying to watch the world around he shake violently; and she’d rather wait to see the aftermath when she could stand on her own two feet again. She kept her eyes shut, ignoring everything around her as best as she could.

She heard a strange noise coming from beneath her. It reminded her of the crackling of wood when she and Archie had made a campfire the night before in Oldale. It reminded her of the staircase in her house as it collapsed to the ground. She felt a pit in her stomach when she realized what it was: the ground was coming apart beneath her! It had been a weaker section of the track to begin with: riddled with cracks and only a few yards away from another gap where part of the track had collapsed. She opened her eyes, figuring if she was quick, she’d have enough time to run to a safer spot. She stood up, letting go of the handrail, and the moment she did so, the track beneath her split apart, and she tumbled down with it.

“May!!” She could barely hear Archie’s shout through her own screams. Archie’s form appearing on the edge of the broken track, reaching out for her was the last thing she saw before she plummeted to the ground below.

When she finally hit the ground she was, to her surprise, still alive. She had landed on some of the broken up pieces of the track that had landed in one of the trenches below. The momentum of the crash had knocked around some of the piles of ash, causing her to cough violently in the aftermath. She looked around her and noticed the walls of dirt reached just a few feet above her; she could barely make out some of the dead, yellow grass on top of them. It really wouldn’t be that far of a walk to get there- that was, if she could get up at all. Her body ached all over, and could only see as far as she could move her head. She tried to move, but discovered she couldn't without feeling a sharp pain in her back. Some of the jagged pieces of the track had pierced her skin, and she could feel it. Her back was throbbing, and she could feel the back of her shirt grow damp from the blood loss. She hurt far too much to move, let alone get up and walk to safety. The world was still shaking harshly around her, and the track above her was still crumbling apart. She hoped Archie was okay; she couldn’t see or hear him anymore. However, he wasn’t the one in immediate danger: the track was falling apart, and who knew how long it would be until some of it landed on her? She didn’t want to move; her body refused to let her move. But she forced her arm down to grab her belt. If she could just get Ralts out of her pokeball, she could use psychic and keep her safe, right? She grabbed her pokeball and grimaced when she felt her hand get damp. When she pulled her arm back up, she noticed her hand was stained with some blood. Her blood, she knew. She ignored it and weakly tossed her pokeball up in the air. And out popped… Mudkip.

“Shoot…!” May gasped as the creature landed gently beside her. He immediately rushed over to her, a worried expression on his face. “Mudkip, I’m fine, I’m…” She noticed more of the track crumbling down and gasped. “Please… watch out!”

She shut her eyes, preparing herself for the impact… but nothing ever came. She opened her eyes and noticed that a large chunk of debris was just a foot or two away from her face… but was being held up by a brilliant white light. The light finally faded, and in its place stood a light purple Marshtomp, who was struggling beneath all the weight. Once he realized May was safe, he tossed the debris a few feet away. He stood his ground for a few moments longer until the shaking finally ceased, then he rushed back to May’s side.

“Marshtomp…” May mumbled. She weakly reached her hand out and stroked Marshtomp’s face. He leaned into her touch, but still looked down upon her nervously. “Thank you.” Her hand slipped from his face, and he continued to fret over her, trying to get her to stand, to move. “I’m okay,” she said, but her eyesight was getting blurry and she could feel her consciousness fading. “Please, look for Archie… make sure he's safe, and get him to come over here… You can do that for me, right?” Marshtomp still looked worried, but he was ever obedient and soon headed off in search of Archie. May shut her eyes, letting her mind go blank. She wasn’t sure if she was going to die or not, but if she did, she was at least proud that she got to see her mudkip evolve. She smiled, remembering one of the bets she had made with Brendan a few months ago. He had told her that as soon as they could actually become trainers, whoever had their starter evolve first would get a scoop of ice cream from the person who lost.

“You owe me ice cream, Brendan.” She whispered, before finally blacking out. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Loud trumpets playing in the distance* it wouldn't be a Hoenn fic without bringing up the most important, most iconic route in the game.


	5. Mauville

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for an exciting episode of Everyone's Favorite Admins

May felt strange. She felt as if she was light as a feather, and was being swept along the current of the winds. She knew this feeling; she had felt it many times before. She remembered feeling like this when she went on long trips with her parents back in Johto. She’d fall asleep on the car ride back so when they got home, her dad would have to carry her back into the house and tuck her into bed. Sometimes, she would pretend to fall asleep, just so her dad would carry her. Part of her liked being carried like that; she felt safe and secure and undeniably loved.

That’s why it felt so strange now. She was far too old to be carried like a baby anymore.

Part of her figured that she had died; maybe she was dead and had gone to heaven and was being carried by her father, who was patiently waiting for her to wake up and spend time with him. But if that was the case, then why did she still ache so much, why was there a faint ringing in her ears, why was it still so horribly hot and why did the air still smell of ash and dust?

“K-kid, c’mon, hey…” She recognized the voice. It was Archie’s. It sounded a bit off, however. Maybe her ears were still messed up from the fall, but she had never heard Archie’s voice sound so… weak before. Shouting seemed to be his inside voice. It felt wrong for him to be this quiet.

“Can ya hear me? Please, wake up…”

 _Yes, I can hear you_ , May thought. She wanted to say those words, to say something to reassure him, but her voice refused to come out. If she couldn’t even bring herself to open her eyes, how in the world was she going to communicate with him? She couldn’t bring herself to worry about it too much, however. Her body still ached and she still felt so horribly tired. It didn’t take her long to black out once again.

* * *

 

The next time she woke up, she found herself in an unfamiliar room. The walls were painted a cream white, and on the wall besides her was a painting of Mount Chimney. She found herself propped up in a bed she didn’t recognize, covered by a heavy red blanket. Despite the layers, she felt… cold. It was the first time she had felt cool in what felt like ages. But that wasn’t the only strange thing about this place; she had noticed it when she first opened her eyes: a lamp was hanging just above the head of the bed, its light shinning obnoxiously into her eyes. She was initially irritated by it, until it dawned on her: wherever she was, there was electricity. There was power! She tried to get up and investigate her surroundings, but when she attempted to climb out of bed, she felt a sharp, horrible pain in her lower back that kept her down. She gave up and lay back, deciding to wait for someone to notice her.

It didn’t take long. Soon enough, a woman entered the room. She looked exhausted, but so did most people nowadays. May noted that she was still very pretty; she had incredibly long, thick black hair with blue tips that was tied into a braid. She had dark skin and bright blue eyes that were intently scanning a book. She didn’t even notice May at first; she had clearly come in to put her book away. After exchanging her book for another one on the shelf, she finally locked eyes with May and gasped. She looked as if she was going to say something to her, but hesitated. Finally, she got up and headed back towards the door.

“OY ARCHIE!!!” She shouted in a voice much louder than May had anticipated. “The kid- I mean, May’s awake!!” She left the room, but in moments May could hear quick, heavy footfalls coming her way. Archie slammed the door open and rushed inside, only pausing to compose of himself when he reached the bed. He knelt down so he was at her level and finally spoke.

“May!” Was all he said. He stared at her in disbelief.

“Archie…” Her voice came out as a hoarse whisper, but at least she could talk again. She smiled. “You look like a mess.” The blue plaid shirt he had been wearing was torn at the sleeves around the elbow, and though it was clear it had been washed recently, May could still see some brown, dried bloodstains on his chest. May grimaced at the sight of them. He had heavy bags under his eyes as well and looked thoroughly exhausted, as if he hadn’t slept in a few days. He just laughed at her response and pulled her into a hug, careful to mind the wounds on her lower back.

“Thank arceus you’re okay, scamp. Ya really scared the shit outta me.” Archie said.

“That’s a bad word.” May responded. She hugged him back weakly anyways.

“I know, I know.” Archie replied, finally letting go.

“What happened, Archie? Where am I?”

“How much do ya remember?”

“Um…” She thought for a moment. “We were on the cycling road, but then there was an earthquake, and I fell off… and Mudkip evolved into Marshtomp kept me safe! Where is he?”

“He’s over there.” Archie gestured to the bookshelf by the bed, where two pokeballs sat. “He was a mighty help, too. Found me and helped me get back to ya. From there I carried ya to Mauville. That’s where we are right now.”

“Mauville?!” May exclaimed. “But that’s like five miles away!”

“Don’t I know it.” Archie said.

“Did you get hurt?”

“I’m okay, kiddo.” Archie said. May didn’t look convinced, still staring at Archie’s blood stained shirt.

“Then what is that?” She asked, pointing at it.

“This…” He sighed. “This is all from you.”

“It is?”

“Yeah. When ya fell, ya landed pretty hard on one of the chunks of track, perfectly on the edge where it had broken off and was all jagged. It cut ya up pretty good.”

“Gross." She shuddered. "Sorry for ruining your shirt.” She curiously reached back and stroked her lower back, where she knew her scar must be. Even while wrapped with bandages, the wound was still pretty tender, and May winced when her fingers made contact with it.

“Try not to touch it for now.” May pulled her hand away and it was only then she realized her clothes had been changed. Her old T-shirt and shorts were gone, replaced by a pale red button up shirt, like the ones her dad used to wear when he went out to a fancy dinner. It was gigantic on her and looked more like a dress than a shirt, seeing how it went all the way down to her knees.

“Is this a hospital?” May asked. May was thankful to have never been in one before. Brendan had told her a little about it, seeing how he had broken his arm when he was seven. He said it was weird, all the walls and floors were painted white, it smelled strongly of soap and everyone had to wear weird, ugly green dresses. What May was wearing wasn’t green, but maybe it was similar?

“Nah. Mauville’s huge, but it seems the one thing it doesn’t have is a hospital.” Archie explained. “There was a small clinic set up by volunteers on the ground floor, and we got ya patched up there. But there were so many people comin’ in and out that we had to take ya here after we got ya all bandaged up. Luckily I ran into one of my friends here. And one of her… _friends_ has an apartment here.” May couldn’t help but notice Archie’s hesitation when referring to his friend's friend.

“Is that the lady I saw earlier?” May asked.

“Yup. That’s Shelly!” Archie grinned. “She’s one of my best friends! You’ll really like her, scamp, I promise!”

“Then who’s the other person?”

“Oh.” May noticed a significant change of tone in his voice. “That’s…”

They were interrupted by a knock at the door. Two people entered the room: the woman, Shelly she now knew, and a man she had never seen before. He was a short guy, his head only reaching just a little above Shelly’s shoulders. However, what he lacked in height he made up for in size. He was a pretty chubby person with a round face and stomach, and in his large hands he was carrying a tray. He seemed to stand out significantly in comparison to Archie and Shelly. He was very pale, and while the two of them wore matching blue he was dressed in a bright red. May could assume the shirt she was wearing belonged to him.

“Hello, kiddo!” Shelly smiled and strolled over to the bed. “My name’s Shelly! It’s nice to meet you!” She ruffled May’s hair as a greeting.

“Hey, hey, stop that!” The guy in red said, pulling Shelly back with one hand. “She’s hurt. The last thing she needs is someone messing with her!”

“I wasn’t messin’ with her.” Shelly pouted. “Besides, if I was asleep for two days the last thing I’d want is to be left alone.”

“Two days?” May gasped.

“Yes, we were told to let you rest.” The man said, glaring at Shelly. “But you must be starving! I’ve made you something to eat, have some.” The man placed the tray on May’s lap. May didn’t make any effort to eat it, instead staring at the man and glaring. “What?”

“My mom told me not to take things from strangers.” May said. The man groaned.

“Really? You’re really doing this?” May nodded. “Fine! I’m Tabitha! Now just eat something!”

“Come on, there’s no need to be so rude.” Shelly said, leaning over and using Tabitha’s shoulder as an armrest. “May, you can call him Tabitabi if you like. That’s what he lets friends call him.”

“Shelly!” The man snapped. “No! She’ll be calling me Tabitha and that’s that!”

“So we’re not friends?” May asked. There was a pause.

“Wha…what?” Tabitha stammered. “No! I mean, yes, I mean-” Shelly snorted and bit her lip in an attempt to suppress her laugh. “Shelly!!”

“I like this kid!” She exclaimed. May laughed too, and finally began to eat. She took off the lid to the bowl before her and gasped when she saw its contents. Tabitha had made her a stew. A creamy broth filled with chopped up vegetables and dumplings sat before her, and while stew wasn’t necessarily her favorite food, it was certainly surprising to see. Mostly because it was warm. She and Archie had been mostly living off snacks and canned foods that didn’t rot and didn’t require much preparation.

“How did you do this?” May gasped.

“Huh?” Tabitha asked. “Aren’t you a little young to be cooking on a stove already?”

“No, I mean… is the power back on? For real?”

“’Fraid not, sweetie.” Shelly said. “From what I’ve heard Mauville’s the only place that’s got it. It’s got back up generators over in Route 110 that weren’t messed up in the quakes.”

“We’ve been trying to come up with a way to restore power to the rest of Hoenn, but the going’s been slow.” Tabitha added.

“Just you two?” May asked.

“Of course not. If it was just me and her around we wouldn’t get anything done.” Tabitha said. “There are a lot of scientists like us here.”

“You guys are scientists?”

“Yup.” Shelly replied. “Archie is, too. Or was. What do ya consider yourself now, Archie?”

“A pirate, maybe.” Archie said, scratching his chin. “I just need to find an eye patch and I’ll have the look down.”

“Or maybe a hobo.” Tabitha scoffed.

“At least I don’t look like a makuhita.”

“H-hey, who told you about that?”

“Didn’t need Matt to tell me. I can see it with my own eyes.”

“I think you mean eye.”

Shelly started laughing again.

May continued to eat and watched the argument, bemused. It was easy to tell who knew whom: Archie and Shelly kept taking each other’s sides when they argued with Tabitha. However, they didn’t seem to hate him. Well, at least Shelly didn’t. Archie seemed snarkier than usual around him. From their conversation, she was able to pick up a few things. Archie and Shelly grew up in the same neighborhood and were best friends. She and Tabitha used to be coworkers at some company called Devon. She felt like she had heard that name before, but couldn’t quite place what it was. Maybe that’s why Archie was so off put by Tabitha, and vice versa. They just didn’t know one another. Then again, Archie had been friendly to every other stranger he had encountered. She wondered what in the world had caused them to be like that, but was far too tired to ask. She ate about half her stew before falling asleep again.

They stayed with Shelly and Tabitha for the next week while May recovered. They all came in to visit her many times, but she never really got to leave the room. She’d usually need Shelly’s help to get on her feet when she needed to go to and from the bathroom. But despite how weary she still felt, she liked it here. The air conditioner worked, making it the first time in ages that she didn’t feel sweaty. And she couldn’t remember the last time she got to sit down and take a nice, long bath. She liked it here, but she couldn’t help but feel guilty enjoying it all. Her mother was still out there, probably still dirty and in the horrible heat. She hoped that when she found her, she’d be able to go with her to a place like this.

One night, she woke up much earlier than anticipated. The lights had been turned off, and she assumed it was nighttime, seeing how dark the world had become outside the window. The room was empty, but she wasn’t too surprised. Why would the three of them hang out in the small bedroom if all she was doing was sleeping? She noticed the tray with the food was gone and sighed. She wasn’t that hungry but her throat felt dry after sleeping so long. She could really use that glass of water she had only had about half of.

She wanted to shout out to Archie for help, but she didn’t want to come off as whiny. Besides, she didn’t trust her voice to shout loud enough to get his attention. That left her with only one option. She slowly sat up straight, her lower back aching from the movement. It didn’t hurt as much as it had the past couple of days, so she kept going. Her feet touched the ground and she immediately felt shaky and dizzy. She grabbed onto the bookshelf beside the bed to steady herself. That’s when she remembered her pokemon were resting up there. Marshtomp could easily help her walk to the bathroom or the kitchen. She grabbed one of the pokeballs and released marshtomp. Immediately, he rushed into her arms, clearly ecstatic to see her.

“Heya, Marshtomp.” May said, hugging him back. “Did you miss me?” He nodded, burrowing his head against her chest. “There, there, I’m okay! I missed you too. But I could really use your help again.” He perked up at the word help and looked around for any possible enemies. “No, no, not like that. Just help me walk to the kitchen. I could use a cup of water. Oh, since they have power, they may even have milk!” She held marshtomp’s hand and leaned against him, and the two of them headed out of the bedroom. There was a long narrow hallway, with doors lined on both sides. Most of which were closed, and most of which had signs on them. Bathroom/Laundry room, Bedroom, Broom closet… she hadn’t noticed them during the daytime. Usually when she walked down this hall, she'd be too busy talking with whomever she was with. Tabitha must be a really organized person, May thought. Her dad was pretty organized but even he didn’t go this far.

She finally reached the kitchen, and noticed it to be empty. But when she was heading to the fridge to see if Tabitha had milk she finally heard voices. They were coming from the living room, which was only separated from the kitchen by a small counter. May ducked down, hoping they wouldn’t be able to see her or Marshtomp from behind the little wall.

“Ya really scared the shit out of us, Archie.” Shelly said.

“I know, I’m sorry.” Archie replied. “Wait a sec, who’s “we”? Don’t tell me you were worried, Tabitha.”

“Of course I was!” Tabitha snapped. “You ran off in the middle of the night after just losing an eye without telling anyone!! Who does that?!”

“Why in the world were you worried? I thought ya hated me.”

“Of course I-“ His shout calmed down. “Don’t. Of course I don’t. You annoy me and I am morally obligated to dislike you. But I never hated you.”

“Morally obligated?” Archie repeated with a snicker. “Is that what _he_ told ya? Do his morals even count anymore?”

“His heart was in the right place and you know it!” Tabitha replied fiercely. “Why do you think he tried to stop it all by himself, despite it being hopeless?! If he were evil, he wouldn’t have killed himself in a last attempt to save everyone!”

“He’s not dead.” Archie said, his voice eerily calm.

“Archie-” Shelly muttered.

“He’s not dead, Tabitha.”

“I don’t want to believe it just as much as you, trust me, but try to think logically for a second! There was no getting out of that!”

“He can’t be dead. I mean- the proof’s all around us! The way it had come back, Groudon shoulda killed everything! Not just us, but the entire damn world! But we’re still here. How would we all still be here if he hadn’t done somethin’?”

“I don’t doubt that he did something.” Tabitha replied. “He was a genius; and an incredibly capable man. But Archie, there was no getting out of Sootopolis.”

“We got out.”

“Yeah, _we_ did.” Shelly said. “But we got lucky. You didn’t see it Archie, but the water was evaporatin’ fast. We got a boat ride back before it was too late.”

“So how do ya know Sootopolis is hopeless if ya haven’t been back?”

“We can’t know for certain. But several people have tried and none of them came back.” Tabitha explained.

“Includin’ that pretty boy champion and his teal friend.”

“Wait… the champion went? How long ago was that?” 

“Apparently, the last anyone has heard from them was over a week ago.”

“Well that…” Archie’s voice wavered for a second. “That doesn’t change anything. I’m goin’ to Sootopolis whether you two like it or not. I’m not givin’ up on him!”

“Well what about that little girl?” Tabitha asked.

May perked up at this.

“What about her?" Archie asked suspiciously. "I’m travelin’ with her until we find her mom, and then-”

“But what if you don’t find her mother, Archie? Do you even know for a fact that she’s there? That she’s alive?”

“She’s gotta be. That kid’s been through too much as it is.”

“That’s not reason enough.” Shelly sighed. “You’re gonna have to prepare for the worst. What if the kid’s mom isn’t there? Where will she go?”

“I’ll keep her safe.” Archie said firmly.

“But where will she go?" Shelly asked. "Are ya really gonna take her to Sootopolis with ya?”

“Well-”

“And what about leader Maxie? Have you even told her what he did?”

“She doesn’t need to know about that!”

“She does if you’re havin’ her come with ya to save him!” Shelly snapped. There was silence again. May had forgotten all about getting a drink and remained silent, her hand pressed over Marshtomp’s mouth so he wouldn’t make any noise. This was all a lot to take in. Archie had reassured her again and again that her mother would be there, and that even if she wasn’t he’d take care of her. But now that she thought about it, what did that mean? Where would he take her? What would he do? Would he take her to Sootopolis with him? How dangerous was it there? And then there was Maxie. Despite being around Archie for so long, she still had no idea who he really was. He was a friend of Archie’s, one he had gotten into a fight with. But what had they fought about? Was that what Archie was hiding from her? And if it was, what in the world did it have to do with Shelly, or Tabihta... or her?

“Look, Archie, Tabi and I have been thinkin’.” Shelly said. “And I think you should let the kiddo stay with us.”

“What?” Archie asked. May gasped from her spot in the kitchen.

“Think about it logically.” Tabitha said. “Here we have food, water, power… It’s safe here! We could keep her safe until things settle down, then maybe she could look for her mother.”

“What if things don’t ever get settled down?”

“Then… I don’t know, Archie, but it’s much safer than having her travel around with you.”

“May wants to find her mom.” Archie argued. “You guys have no idea what that little girl’s been through; she deserves to at least find out what happened!”

“What May needs is a safe place to stay and grow up. Do you really think she needs to go through anymore? Think logically, Archie! She was lucky. She could have died! It’d be best for her to-”

“Best for her? Why should you of all people should be the one decidin’ what’s best for someone else?! Considerin’ what you’ve done!”

“Don’t pull that on me! I tried to stop him; you know that! And regardless of which petty arguments you bring up, there’s no denying that she’d be safer here. She’s been hurt enough as it is; do you really need to drag her through more?”

There was silence. It seemed Archie was considering Tabitha’s words this time. May didn’t like it. She didn’t like any of this. She didn’t like the fighting, the yelling... she didn’t like being in the dark, either. Not only had Maxie done something, but also so had Tabitha? Were those related? She wanted to know. But more than anything, May did not like Tabitha yelling at Archie on her behalf. He was right; she had been hurt. And it had really, really hurt. But that wasn’t anyone’s fault. And she wasn’t going to stand for Archie being wrongly blamed. She stood up and lumbered over towards where the adults were talking.

“Whoa, hey May.” Shelly said casually. It seemed through all of this, at least she had mostly kept her cool.

“Scamp?” Archie asked. He looked visibly shaken but when she approached, he smiled at her. “Ya okay? Did ya need somethin’?” May ignored him for now and glared up at Tabitha, putting her hands on her hips.

“How long have you been here?!” Tabitha asked, visibly surprised.

“Long enough to hear you guys talking about me.” May said. “You’re not my dad, Tabitha! You don’t get to choose for me!”

“I- uh… Don’t be silly, child!” Tabitha argued. “It’s safer here. You and I both know that! You should-” He trailed off when Shelly put her hand on his shoulder.

“Y’know what, Tabs? We’ve been goin’ about this all wrong.” Shelly knelt down to May’s level and smiled at her. “You’re pretty grown up, aren’t ya?” May nodded. “That’s what I thought. So we’ll let ya decide. May, where do you want to go?”

“Shelly-” Tabitha protested.

“Hush. May, you’ve been listenin’, so you know the pros and cons of both. So where will you go?” May was silent for a moment. If she learned anything from this scenario, it was that she liked Shelly. Almost enough to want to do what she wanted.

Almost.

May strolled over to Archie and grabbed his hand.

“I’m gonna go with Archie, and we’re gonna find my mom.” Tabitha opened his mouth to say something, but May interrupted. “Got it?”

“Alright, scamp. We’re not gonna stop ya.” Shelly said. “Now, what was it ya came here for? It’s really late.”

“I’m thirsty. Do you guys have any milk?” May asked.

“Probably not. That stuff goes bad pretty quick.” May said nothing and pouted in response. “But I think we got some pecha berry juice. Sound good?” May lit up at that and nodded. “In fact, I think we could all sit down and have a glass of juice. Together. As _friends_.” She put emphasis on the word friends and shot a look Archie and Tabitha, who only turned to each other and glared.

The four of them had drinks together at Tabitha’s table, and all of them talked together as if nothing had happened. Well, Shelly did at least. She was a middle ground between Archie and Tabitha, so while those two would hardly glance at one another, she still managed to keep a conversation steady.

* * *

 

May and Archie stayed with Tabitha and Shelly for a couple more days, until May was able to stand and walk around on her own again. On the morning they’d be heading out, Shelly surprised her with a new set of clothes: a blue baseball t-shirt and some black shorts.

“Somethin’ to replace your dirty ones with.” She explained. “Ya look cute in blue, kiddo.”

“Thank you, Shelly.” May said.

“Hey, how come I don’t get anythin’ new? Why do I have to wear… this?” Archie complained. Tabitha, after lots of persuasion from Shelly, had been kind enough to give Archie one of his crimson button ups to replace Archie’s stained one. May thought he looked okay in it, but Archie didn’t seem too pleased.

“You’re an adult, we’re not getting anything new for you.” Tabitha snapped. “My shirts fit you, just take it.”

“But I hate red.” Archie groaned.

“Ya sure this is the guy ya wanna go with, May?” Shelly asked. She meant it in jest, but May nodded anyways.

“Yes. He’s my friend.” She said.

“Can’t argue with that, I guess.” She ruffled her hair and smiled. “You’re a good kid. I wish ya luck out there.” Before May could thank her, Tabitha interrupted her by clearing his throat. He glanced at Shelly, then to side, silently asking her to leave the two of them be. She looked confused but complied anyways.

“Child… I mean, May.” He began. “I have my own present for you for the long journey ahead of you.” He handed May a pokeball. “I know Archie is very adamant about what type of pokemon he has, but-”

“Adamant?” She repeated.

“He’s very… er, picky about what pokemon he likes. But regardless of what his preference is, I believe this will help your team be more balanced. Besides, you never know when you might need something to light your way, or keep you warm.”

“What’s in here?” May asked.

“It’s my camerupt.” He replied. “He’s very precious to me. He was one of my first pokemon.”

“You’re giving him to me? But he’s your family!” May protested, holding the pokeball back out towards him.

“He is my family. And that is why I’m _lending_ you my camerupt. He is not yours to keep.” For the first time all week, he smiled. “That means I’m expecting you and him to come back safe. Understand?”

“I… I promise I will.” May replied.

“Good. I hope…” He looked behind him, making sure Shelly and Archie weren’t listening in on their conversation, and finally continued. “I hope there are no hard feelings between us, child. I cannot change your mind. And from what I’ve done… I have no right to try to. But please, try to be careful. And if you find that there is no going forward, you can always come back.”

May wasn’t quite sure she understood what he was talking about, but it sounded like the closest thing she’d be getting to an apology anytime soon. She supposed she did like Tabitha, too. He wasn’t quite as friendly as Archie or as considerate as Shelly, but he seemed to mean well. For the most part. She still knew there was something that he had done to make him question his own opinions, something bad enough to make Archie snap at him, but she still had no idea what in the world that might be. But for now, she figured, she’d give him the benefit of the doubt.

“Thank you, Tabi-Tabi.” Tabitha looked like he was about to protest for a moment, but he finally chuckled at that.

“Child… you’re really something, aren’t you? Archie went on and on about how strong you are, but you’ve got quite the head on your shoulders as well. In my opinion, that’s even better. Use that to your advantage.”

Finally, Archie strolled over, and gently put his hand on May’s shoulder.

“It’s about time we start headin’ out, kiddo.”

The two of them said their goodbyes to Shelly and Tabitha, both promising to return safe and sound to see them once again. They headed down the stairs and towards the east end of Mauville; that’d be the quickest route to Lilycove and Sootopolis. Looking around at the bustling crowds of people, May honestly wished she could stay there for another day. Despite all of the chaos outside, Mauville seemed almost normal. Sure, a lot of the stores had been closed and replaced with first aid and short notice refuge, but overall the environment seemed much more calm than any of the other places she had been thus far. Maybe it was because of the power, or maybe it was because of the air conditioning. Either way, walking around here made it almost seem as if the world outside just wasn’t happening.

The two of them reached the glass doors, the only thing between the peace of Mauville and the devastated remains of Hoenn. May could see that nothing had gotten much better since she had first arrived here. The sky was still dark and cloudy, the ground covered in ash and dead grass.

“Are ya ready?” Archie asked. He was tying his bandanna around his neck. Now that he had Tabitha’s shirt on, the bandanna didn’t match much anymore. But he had told her on day one that fashion didn’t matter outside, so she said nothing of it.

“Yup.” She replied, pulling her goggles over her eyes. Once they were both ready, the two of them stepped outside, back into the wasteland. May was nervous stepping out in that disaster once again, but now, with a new member on her team and a close friend by her side, she didn’t feel quite as fearful as before. It had been a trying week, but she had faith in Archie. He was her friend, and she was sure that sooner or later he would tell her whatever he and Tabitha had been arguing about. That’s what friends did, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to clarify: I see Tabitha and Shelly as strictly platonic. (If you see it as shippy, good for you. But that's why I'm not adding that ship tag). I actually ship Shelly with Courtney, and Tabitha with Matt. Unfortunately, I just couldn't find a place for Matt and Courtney in this story. I wanted to include the two admins that were closest to their leaders, so that's why Shelly and Tabi are here. Plus, I like to believe they'd be friends. Friends who annoy the shit out of one another but friends nonetheless. I'll probably bring up Courtney and Matt later, but they probably won't be huge parts of the story. Sorry about that. :/


	6. Mt. Pyre

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter. Spooky Scary

May’s feet hurt. It wasn’t surprising, seeing how she had spent such a long time doing nothing but sitting in a bed. But still, the journey from Mauville towards Lilycove was trying. Unlike the pervious routes they had traveled through, there were actually pokemon roaming around in the wild here on route 123. A lot of those pokemon kept to themselves; not wanting to get into any trouble. But a lot of them were angry and unsettled and attempted to attack May and Archie. May supposed she was thankful for it; she got in a fair amount of training for all three of her pokemon, and even managed to evolve Ralts into Kirlia and her Marshtomp into a Swampert. But she couldn’t help but notice that all of the pokeon that were attacking were ghost types; mainly duskull and shuppet. It made her uneasy.

“Archie?” May asked, walking a few feet behind the older man, “What happens to pokemon… when they die?

“I’m not sure, kiddo.” Archie replied.

“Do you think all these ghost pokemon showed up because of the quakes? Do you think these are all the pokemon that died?”

“If they were, we woulda seen them all the way back in Littleroot, don’t ya think?”

“I guess so…” May still felt uneasy, but didn’t say anything else. She continued onwards, but found herself trailing behind Archie further and further. Her feet just hurt so much, and she could still feel a dull ache in her back as she moved. She had promised Archie the moment they had left Mauville City that she’d move quickly and make up for all that wasted time there, but it seemed she wouldn’t be able to keep that promise. Archie stopped in his tracks and waited patiently for her to wobble up beside him.

“How are ya feelin’, scamp?” Archie asked, visibly concerned.

“I’m fine! Just a little tired, I guess.” May lied. She stretched, and then hissed at the pain that shot through her lower back at the action.

“You’re not fine. Where does it hurt? Do ya need to rest?”

“I said I’m good!” May snapped. “I can keep going! We’ve gotta hurry if we’re gonna make it to Lilycove before nighttime!” She tried to rush ahead, but Archie grabbed on to the handle of her backpack and kept her back.

“Whoa, easy there scamp.” Archie said. “Look, even if we ran, we wouldn’t be gettin’ to Lilycove before the sun sets. Let’s just find a place to rest for the night. I’m sure we’ll make it tomorrow.”

“Okay.” She sighed. She wasn’t trying to hurry just for Archie’s sake, after all. She really wanted to go to Lilycove, and she really wanted to see her mom again. She supposed one night couldn’t be all that bad. And the sooner she got to sleep, the sooner she’d be able to go, right? She and Archie continued on forward, albeit a little slower this time. “Are there any towns around here?”

“Afraid not.” Archie replied. “Closest one at this point probably is Lilycove.”

“Does that mean we have to sleep outside?”

“No way we’re sleepin’ outside. It’s too dark to see anything, ya can’t breathe, and I don’t think anyone would be able to sleep in this heat.”

“Then where are we going?”

“I’ve got one place in mind, but you won’t like it.”

They continued onwards through the patches of thick, ash-covered dead grass and the remains of trees and bushes until they finally reached a clearing with a long, stone path that jutted out into nothing. From what May could tell, it used to be a dock of some sort. Which was strange, seeing how they weren’t near the coast. It seemed they were at what used to be an inlet or a lake of some kind. Below them, like all of the bodies of water they had encountered, was a deep, muddy trench, where the water had dried up. May was used to this sight. What she wasn’t used to was what was in the middle of it all. A large, hulking formation sat in the middle of the dried up lake, looming over everything. It was a mountain with the remains of a building scattered about upon it, but somehow the ruins did not look recent. May knew what this place was. She had never been there before, but Brendan had brought it up before: Mount Pyre. The final resting place for departed pokemon, and the home of all ghosts throughout Hoenn. There were rumors that it was a gateway to the afterlife, and people could see the ghosts of departed humans as well as pokemon. At the time, May had just laughed it off, telling him that, while ghost pokemon existed, people ghosts weren’t real. She wasn’t about to let him know that she was terrified of them.

“I-is that Mount Pyre?” May asked nervously.

“It sure is.”

“Y’know, my feet feel much better now.” May lied, smiling nervously. “I think I can walk to Lilycove. No biggie!”

“You’re not scared of Mount Pyre, are ya?”

“What? No… of course not…” Archie just stared at her. “Okay, maybe a little.”

“I promise I’ll keep ya safe.”

“Even from ghosts?” She asked.

“I think you could protect yourself just fine from those, seein’ how you’ve just fought about a million and a half of ‘em. But yeah, I promise.”

“Um…” May still didn’t feel that comfortable, but didn’t see many other options. “Okay.”

Archie had his crobat fly the two of them across the small gap to Mount Pyre. The air was still thick and dirty, making it hard for Crobat to fly very far, but that small distance he could manage. When they got inside, they found the place to be pitch black.

“Gimme a sec, I think I got a flashlight in here somewhere…” Archie muttered, going to take his backpack off. May didn’t trust this darkness, knowing that a ghost could be looming anywhere, ready to attack them. She quickly pulled out Kirlia’s pokeball, and released her. She lit up the room with flash so May and Archie could at least see around them. “Good thinkin’, kiddo.” May didn’t respond and instead just nodded. Just like most of the large buildings they had encountered, the place was in ruins, with large chunks of the ceiling scattered across the floor. May noticed there were holes all throughout the tiled floors. “Dam- dang. Didn’t take long for this place to fall apart again.”

“Again?” May questioned.

“Yeah. This place is really old. There used to be holes all over the ground, big enough for adults like me to fall into! Enough complaints got ‘em to fix it, but it doesn’t look like they did a very good job.”

The two of them continued farther into the mountain, eventually heading up a couple flights of stairs. May followed Archie in silence. He seemed to know where he was going. And she wasn’t about to question him and explore on her own. Finally, on the third floor, he stopped in the middle of a row of graves.

“Here we go. This should work.” Archie said.

“Why here? Are we even allowed to sleep near the graves? Wouldn’t that be… I dunno, rude?”

“Usually, I’d say so. But I know the pokemon that’s buried here.” He gestured to the gravestone, but in the darkness, May couldn’t quite make out what it said. “My mom’s first pokemon is buried here. I’m sure she’d be more than happy to watch over us for the night.”

“What was she? What’s her name?”

“She was a corsola.” Archie smiled. “And her name’s Aiko.” He knelt down before the grave, and clasped his hands together. “Heya, Aiko. It’s been awhile, hasn’t it? Sorry I haven’t visited much; I’ve been a lil’ busy, y’know?” May figured it was rude of her to stand there and copied him, kneeling down and clasping her hands together as well. “Oh, right. I shoulda introduced ya! This here is May. She’s a really good trainer, and she’s only nine! Amazing, right?” May could feel herself getting embarrassed, but she remained silent. “Anyways, she and I have been travellin’ Hoenn lookin’ for her folks and Maxie. I’m sure ya know how Hoenn is right now and… to be honest, we’re really lookin’ for a place to rest our heads for the night. I hope you’ll be okay with that. Thank you.”

“Thank you!” May repeated.

“I think she’ll give us the ok. Aiko always was a softie.” Archie paused, looking back at the grave. “And I mean that in the nicest way.”

May and Archie set up their sleeping bags and got ready to shut in for the night. Archie offered May something to eat, but she refused, still far too nervous to eat right now. She was sure she’d regret it later, but at the moment she just wanted to fall asleep and get this night over with as quickly as possible.

“Aren’t you gonna sleep?” May asked. Other than pulling out his sleeping bag, Archie hadn’t made much of an effort to move.

“Nah. Well, yeah. In a bit.” He smiled down at her. “I’m gonna wait til you fall asleep. I promised I'd protect ya from ghosts, right?.”

“Oh. Right! Thank you, Archie.”

“Anything for you, scamp.”

May appreciated that a lot. When she was younger, she used to be terrified of being eaten by a gengar in her sleep. She used to firmly believe that one lived under her bed, or in her closet. Her dad wasn’t so helpful when it came to that. He always told her to just be brave, and face it head on if that were the case. Which it never was, of course. But that logic didn’t work with May. Sometimes, having someone there to make sure she was safe was what she needed. She remembered that on nights like those, her mom would stay up with her, reading her fairytales or just simply chatting with her until she fell asleep, unafraid of any ghost pokemon that might be lurking in her closet. She supposed there was some merit to being brave. But in a world where she had to be brave so often, it was nice letting someone be brave for her for a change. She still felt a little tense, but it didn’t take long for the exhaustion of the day and the pain in her back and feet to finally catch up with her.

When she awoke, however, it was not to the sound of Archie wishing her a good morning, nor was it to the feeling of him shaking her awake. She awoke because she felt cold. It reminded her of the time her parents had taken her camping at Snowtop Mountain. It had been frigid, and before the night was over, even her father had bailed and the three of them had decided to stay in a lodge instead. Snowtop Mountain, however, was supposed to be cold. Hence how it got its name. Even inside Mount Pyre, it was still pretty warm from the overwhelming heat outside. Why in the world would it suddenly be cold? She felt herself begin to sweat. Brendan had told her that when a ghost was nearby, it got cold. It was the only ghost “fact” of his she hadn’t laughed off. Mostly because her father told her the same thing happened with ghost type pokemon. Regardless of which one it was, May didn’t want to deal with it. At least not by herself.

“A-archie?” May whispered. She got no response. She reached over to where he was sleeping and began to poke. “H-hey, Archie? Wake up…” But she didn’t feel him. All she was touching was the plush of the sleeping bag. Archie wasn’t in it. She sat up quickly and squinted in the darkness, and found that Archie really was gone. “Archie?!” She stood up and looked around frantically, but in the darkness, she couldn’t make out much. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Where in the world had Archie gone? Had he been attacked? Spirited away? Possessed? She didn’t know. All she knew was that she didn’t want to be here by herself. She knelt down in her sleeping bag again, desperately searching for her bag in the darkness. She never slept with her belt on; it was too uncomfortable. But now she was starting to regret choosing comfort over safety. As she finally grabbed onto one of her pokeballs, she heard it: the faint cry of a pokemon.

“ _ola_ …”

May froze in her tracks, cold sweat covering her back. Her breathing hitched when she heard it once again, this time even closer, from right behind her. May took several deep, shuddering breaths before finally turning around. About a foot away from her stood a corsola, oddly illuminated in the darkness. May looked upon it in horror, realizing that through the corsola she could still see the opposing wall and the tiled floor. Despite her obvious fear, the corsola approached her, smiling gently.

“Um… a-are you… um…” May took another deep breath, hoping to calm herself. “Aiko?” Corsola reacted to the name and smiled brightly at the sound of it. Seeing Aiko’s smile calmed her down a little. “It’s nice to, um, meet you.” Aiko nodded and approached May, but May quickly backed away. “Um! I’m sorry, but have you seen Archie anywhere? I… I don’t know where he went, and, um…” Aiko seemed to understand what she was saying, and looked upwards at the cracked, broken ceiling. “He’s… up there?” Aiko nodded. “Why? I-is he hurt? Did something eat him?” Aiko shook her head and drifted past May, towards the stairs. It stopped a few feet before them and looked back at May, gesturing for her to follow. May wasn’t quite sure how she felt about this. Archie had said that AIko was kind but… was she still kind after death? May couldn’t help but worry about her true intentions. She shook her head and slowly stood up. First thing was first; she needed to find Archie. And this was the only lead she had. She grabbed her belt and released Kirlia. Kirlia wasn’t necessarily the strongest of her pokemon, but she could make things glow with flash, and she didn’t trust Camerupt on these weak floors.

“Please light the way, Kirlia.” May said. Kirlia nodded, and soon the room was filled with a faint, blue light. It wasn’t much; May could only see a few feet around her in each direction. But it was better than being lost in total darkness. She nodded, and the two of them caught up to Aiko.

Aiko lead them up the stairs where, once again, the room was void of life and only filled with graves. However, instead of leading May up the next flight of stairs, Aiko headed south, towards a door leading to the outside.

“He’s out here?” May asked. Aiko simply nodded again. That was weird. Archie was always so adamant about not going outside at night. He must really be in danger if he was breaking his own rule. May was thankful she carried her goggles with her everywhere. As soon as she was ready, she headed out the door.

Once outside, she stopped right in her tracks. Archie had been right. It really was… black. There was no moon, no stars… May couldn’t even see the deep navy of the night sky. Without Kirlia’s light, she probably wouldn’t be able to see her own hand inches away from her face. It was terrifying to say the least. She could even feel the ash-filled wind rushing past her. Wherever she was, she was up high. One wrong step, and she could fall to her death, couldn’t she? That made her even more scared for Archie. Was he all alone in this darkness? What if he had hurt himself? Or worse?

“Let’s keep going.” May said fiercely. She grabbed her nervous Kirlia’s hand and headed forward into the foreboding darkness.

From what May could make out, she was nearing the summit of the mountain. The outside wasn’t all that different from the inside. Graves lined the path she walked on. But the higher she got, the less frequent they became, more often split apart by weird rock structures that looked like they were once buildings. It was unsettling to say the least. More than once she thought she had heard the faint ring of a chimeco, and she thought she had seen the glowing red eye of a duskull roaming around in the dead, withered grass. But she never went to investigate. Finally, as she reached the summit, she could see a faint light ahead of her. Archie. It had to be Archie! May picked up the pace, quickly surpassing Aiko and Kirlia as she rushed up the stairs.

“Return that to me at once!!” A harsh voice shouted. That wasn’t Archie’s; it sounded far too old. May quickly ducked behind one of the walls surrounding the summit and peaked out at the scene before her. Illuminated dully by Archie’s flashlight was a weird altar. It looked like both the treasures it was supposed to be holding were missing. Before the altar stood Archie with a man she didn’t recognize. Like Corsola, the old man seemed to be oddly illuminated and slightly transparent. She gasped; even though she had feared it, she was never sure she’d actually witness a human ghost. But here one was, in the flesh, and he seemed to be furious at Archie.

“L-look, I need this, okay?” May hadn’t noticed it until now, but in Archie’s hands was a beautiful blue orb. “If there’s any chance of helpin’ Hoenn, it’d be with this-”

“Help? Isn’t helping the world what _he_ tried to do?”

“That’s… that’s not the same and ya know it! I’m not tryin’ to-”

“Not the same? Really? You two are no different! Both spewing your misguided morals, forcing your views upon the world, drowning the world in flame or flood…” He paused. “Archie of Team Aqua… Maxie of Team Magma… the two of you are but different sides of the same, wretched coin.”

May gasped and felt her stomach drop.

Team Magma. She knew that name. Archie himself had said it on the day they had met. They were the ones who had released Groudon. They were the ones who had destroyed Hoenn and- for all she knew- the world. They were the ones who had killed Professor Birch, her dad and Brendan. And the figure heading it all was… Maxie?

It all made sense now, May realized. Why Tabitha had been so guilty and called Maxie “leader”, why Archie had been so reluctant to tell her anything about him... This whole time, she realized, she had been helping Archie find a killer.

May stepped out of hiding and began to run. She needed to get away from Archie. He was having them find a killer- and for what? Was he going to help him? What were his plans? May realized now that she hadn’t even asked him what he’d do once he found Maxie. She figured that maybe she didn’t want to know.

“May!” Archie shouted. He had noticed her. May ran faster. “May, wait up!” It didn’t take him long to reach her. She was still slow from the accident. He grabbed ahold of her wrist and stopped her from escaping. “May, where are ya goin’?!” May didn’t respond, choosing instead to glare back at him. “Kid, I don’t know what ya heard, but-”

“Shut up!!” May shouted. Her dad would’ve been furious at her for saying such a thing, but she couldn’t bring herself to care right now. “Shut up, just shut up!” Archie recoiled a little, but his grip on her didn’t lighten up. “My dad… Brendan… so many people… they’re all dead! And all this time you’ve been having me help you find their killer?!”

“Kid, that’s not…” May couldn’t help but notice that Archie was still holding the blue orb in his other hand. She grimaced.

“Archie, what is that? Maxie… he used the first one to destroy the world, right? Are you planning on helping him finish the job? Is that what you’ve been doing?!” May felt tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, but for the life of her she couldn’t figure out whether they were from fear or anger. “Are you gonna kill everyone that’s left? Are you gonna kill me?”

“May, I…” May determined she didn’t have time for his excuses. Every instinct was telling her to run. Archie was so much bigger than her. He could kill her in an instant if he so pleased. She needed to leave, now, go!!

“Kirlia, use flash!” May closed her eyes as the pokemon obeyed her, sending out a blinding light. It had clearly caught Archie off guard, and he let go of May’s wrist and the orb to cover his good eye. She wasted no time, and immediately broke into a sprint, grabbing the orb and her Kirlia’s hand.

She ran back into the darkness of Mount Pyre, not even illuminating her path as she went. She couldn’t let herself get caught now. If she did… who knows what he might do to her? Now that she knew his secret. Plus, she had the orb now. If he caught her, he could kill everyone! She had to keep running. If she was ever going to find her mom, she’d have to keep going. Pure adrenaline kept her tired feet going as she continued into the darkness. Lilycove isn’t that far away, she thought. Mom will be there. She has to be. I can get there by myself.

She stopped in her path when a horde of red eyes appeared before her. The eyes materialized into a hoard of duskull, all ready for the attack. She was too rushed to even be afraid of them, and immediately pulled out Swampert’s ball.

“I don’t have time for this! Swampert, surf! Kirlia, psychic!” May and Archie had fought off about a million duskull on their way here. This was no different. She just needed to hurry. However, releasing Swampert had been a huge mistake. His added weight was too much for the weak floor. It collapsed beneath them, sending them screaming into the darkness below. May shut her eyes, preparing herself for the impact… but nothing happened. She opened her eyes and realized she was enveloped in a bright blue light, her body drifting down towards the ground, slowly. She noticed her Swampert a few feet away in the same scenario. The two of them landed gently on the floor, and the blue light faded. May noticed that her Kirlia had landed before her, but had turned into a Gardevoir on the way down.

“Whoa… Gardevoir…!” May gasped. She rushed up to the creature, gently taking her hands into her own. She had heard that Gardevoir was incredibly loyal to their trainers; often risking their own lives to protect them, so she supposed this wasn’t surprising. But she was still amazed. “Thank you.” Gardevoir simply smiled at her and nodded.

May’s elated mood didn’t last long however, because now she had no idea where she was. She recalled running down quite a few stairs; but she couldn’t remember quite how many. Which floor was she on now?

“Gardevoir, can you use flash?” Gardevoir nodded and illuminated the room. And soon May realized that she had no idea where she was.

This wasn’t the ground floor of Mount Pyre. There were no graves around her. Well, no graves that were being used. A lot of graves with no names engraved in them lay about, along with several other supplies including coffins and urns. Perhaps there was a basement below that? Whatever it was, it hadn’t been used in ages. The room reeked of dust and mold, and May almost preferred the ash that hung in the air outside.

She had accidentally dropped the blue orb and it had rolled quite a bit away from her. She picked it up and got a good look at it, noticing it wasn’t dented or scraped in the slightest. Despite its look, it was surprising resilient.

“What are you, anyways?” May asked. Seeing how messed up this world had become, she wouldn’t have been that surprised if it had talked back. Nothing happened of course, and she chose to glare at the orb instead. “All this time and this is what he was after? Was this all that mattered to him?” She could feel herself growing angrier and angrier and she squeezed the orb tightly, not caring that it was leaving marks in her skin. While looking into the blue of the orb, all she could think about was all she had been through with Archie. She had liked him. She liked him a lot. In this new, empty world, she had managed to make a friend. And most importantly, she had trusted him. The two of them had traveled nearly half the region together. He had taken care of her, and even saved her life not too long ago. Why in the world had he done that? Why would he save a little girl just to kill her in the end? What kind of sick freak was he?

“I don’t get it!” She tossed the orb to the ground again in frustration. “I don’t…” She sighed before finally sinking to the ground. She knew she should be running. She should be finding a way out and leaving. But she was too frustrated to move, too agitated to even think about safety. Besides, how far could she really get? She didn’t have any pokemon that could fly her across the trench outside, Gardevoir’s flash would only alert Archie to her, and she had left all her supplies upstairs by Aiko’s grave. Realistically, it was only a matter of time before Archie would track her down and kill her. She grabbed Gardevoir’s pokeball and returned her, deciding that waiting in the darkness would at least prolong the time she had left. Besides, maybe Archie would overlook her, and she could escape once it was morning.

She considered returning Swampert as well, but decided to keep him out. He sat down beside her, and she leaned against him. His skin was cold and clammy, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. He was the only friend she had from before all of this began, and she wanted to at least be with him in the end.

She sat in silence for awhile, but shot up when she heard something heading towards her. She calmed once she noticed it was just the blue orb rolling towards her in the darkness. She hadn’t noticed it until now, but it emitted a faint light. However, what caught her attention more than that was the one who had rolled it to her. A treeko was bounding towards her excitedly, its body wrapped in a faint, white light. Just like Aiko was. She gasped at the sight of it, but remained still. She didn’t know this treeko or what it would want with her.

“Treeko, where are you?” She heard a quiet voice ask. The voice came closer, and soon enough, Treeko’s trainer was standing before her.

“There you are!” Brendan exclaimed. “I’ve been looking all over for you.” It was clear that he wasn’t talking about Treeko; he was smiling straight at May while his pokemon crawled up onto his shoulder. May glared at him and buried her face in her hands; she had had enough.

“Go away.” May said, her voice muffled in her palms. “You’re just some mean gengar playing a trick on me. Go away.”

“You and I both know gengars don’t live in Hoenn.” He sat down in front of her, but his movements made no noise. She looked at him, and noticed everything looked the same. He didn’t have missing hunks of flesh or blood oozing from his eyes. He wasn’t some horror story ghost, ready to kill her in cold blood. What sat before her was Brendan. Her best friend. But she could still see the faint glow his body was emitting, and through his body she could see the tiled, cracked ground below them. It wasn’t the same. And it never would be.

“You’re dead.” May finally said. “You really… are dead, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.” He replied, smiling sadly. “I am.”

“Brendan, I…” May felt like her throat was going to close up. For so long, she had wanted to talk to him, to have one last conversation with him. Part of her wanted to believe that he was all right somewhere, that she had jumped to conclusions and he and the professor and everyone were all actually still alive somewhere. But now he finally stood before her: dead as a doornail. “I’m so sorry. I… I could’ve saved you. You were inches away from me! I could’ve just grabbed your hand and dragged you in. Why didn’t I?” She was beginning to weep, but this time she didn’t bother to try and stop the tears. “Are you haunting me because I let you die? Is that why you’re here right now? Brendan, I-”

“May.” Brendan said, smiling gently. “I’ve been here this whole time, y’know?”

“H-huh?” She replied, wiping her eyes.

“I don’t wanna think of it as haunting. But… I guess it is, seeing how I’m a… yeah.” He said, smiling sheepishly. “I’m not mad at you. I was the one who ran off, remember?”

“I know, but… it’s not fair. We were supposed to be doing this whole journey together…!”

“But we are. I just… haven’t been able to say anything.” He stood up and drifted towards Swampert. He held out his arm towards him and Swampert reciprocated, leaning into his touch. He looked confused when he couldn’t feel anything, but he looked happy regardless. ”I was wrong. A purple Swampert actually looks super cool.” May actually smiled at that.

“I told you so.” She stood beside him and pet Swampert in his place. Brendan’s treeko hopped off his shoulder and eyed Swampert suspiciously.

“Don’t worry, Treeko.” Brendan chuckled. “It’s still Mudkip, okay?” The treeko still looked skeptical. "He's just a little taller, that’s all!” May watched the whole ordeal sadly. Her mudkip used to be much smaller than his treeko. It would’ve been so nice to see the two of them grow together. “What’s wrong, May?” He finally asked, turning around to face her.

“Aren’t you sad?” She asked. “We were supposed to evolve our pokemon together, weren’t we?”

“We were. But there’s nothing I can do about it now.” He shrugged. “Least I can do is be proud of you.”

“I don’t… I don’t get it.” She said. The more she talked to him, the more she pitied him. Traveling around with Archie and meeting his friends made her aware of just how young she really was. She was so young, and he was too. They had so much more going for them, but now she was all that was left. “How can you be okay with all of this? I mean, aren’t you mad? Or- or sad?”

“May.” Brendan said. For the first time all day, his smile was gone; replaced with a bitter glare. The expression on her dead friend’s face sent a shiver down her spine, and she immediately recoiled. “Of course I am. I wanted to train my pokemon and travel the world, too. I wanted to grow up, too!” May could see him tearing up now, and, unbeknownst to him, the light enveloping his body steadily growing brighter. “But… but when you’re like this, there’s nothing you can do! I can’t touch anything, or speak to anyone and... and… nobody else is here, May! If they are, I can’t see them!”

A strange wind began to pick up, scattering dust and light debris around the room into a whirlwind.

“Of course I’m sad! Of course I’m mad! None of this was supposed to happen! We had so much in mind and now it never will!”

Swampert readied himself to attack, but May held him back, cautiously looking up at Brendan. She was terrified; but that was still Brendan, and she wasn’t going to let him hurt her best friend.

Brendan seemed to notice them and, just as quickly as they had started, the winds stopped. And when they cleared away, all that remained was Brendan’s form, standing before them solemnly.

“But… even though that all happened… you’re still here, May.” He smiled, and wiped his eyes. “The first days were bad. I was so lonely, but… you were there.” He drifted towards May. “I watched you travel Hoenn, evolve two pokemon all the way, live through stuff most kids would’ve died at. And it's only been about a month! No matter what, you keep getting back up and going. I’m mad, but… I’m not mad at you. It’s hard to be mad at someone you’re rooting for.”

“Brendan.” She reached forward, in an attempt to put her hand on his shoulder. It sank through. She paused for a moment and Brendan began to laugh. It was contagious and soon she joined in too. Eventually she just stuck with holding her hand a little above his shoulder. “Thank you. For believing in me.”

“Of course.”

“So… you’ve been hanging around me since the start?”

“Sorta, yeah.”

“Then where’s… everyone else?”

“I’m not sure.” He sighed. “Maybe ghosts can’t see other ghosts?”

“Maybe… but why are you still here? Like… can you not move on, or something?”

“I don’t know.” He replied. He floated upwards once again, this time in a sitting position. May almost wanted to laugh; it reminded her of genies she had seen if fairy tale books. “I think most people died without doing everything they wanted to though. So maybe something’s keeping me here?”

“Hmm.” May couldn’t think of anything. She didn’t like reading ghost stories as much as Brendan did. Though she acted unafraid, the thought of a ghost being in her house, possessing her toys and… “Wait a sec.”

“What?”

“Do you think it has anything to do with this?” She raised her arm and pointed at the bracelet on her wrist.

“What is… oh!” Brendan exclaimed. “That’s my mega evolution bracelet! I almost forgot you had it!”

“Do you think this has to do with anything?”

“It… it might. In a couple ghost stories, ghosts have been connected to stuff they had cherished. Maybe that’s why?”

“If that’s why, then maybe…” She took the bracelet off and held it out before her. “Should I… um, destroy it? I mean, watching me all alone, not being able to talk to me… it can’t be fun, right? Do you want me to…?”

“May, no.” He came in close again, cupping his hands around the bracelet. “Not yet, okay?”

“Are you sure? I mean… I just feel so bad! I wanna help!”

“Do you know what this thing is?” May shook her head. “It’s a mega evolution bracelet. One of my dad’s friends in Kalos sent him this. It can make some fully evolved pokemon evolve again with a special stone and a close bond. I… I know you wanna help, but I wanna help you first.”

“But…”

“May, I’m dead. What else could happen to me? Your story’s not over yet, and this will help you. Promise you’ll keep it.” May still felt hesitant. She couldn’t help but imagine just how lonely and sad she would be if she were in Brendan’s shoes. But Brendan was staring at her now… smiling like he always did. She couldn’t say no to likely one of the last promises they’d ever make together.

“Okay. I will, Brendan.” She put the bracelet back on and smiled back at him.

“Good.” He landed back on solid ground and approached his treeko, letting her climb onto his back. “I think I should go soon.”

“What? Why? We only just started talking!”

“Because. He’s coming.”

“He’s…?” May gasped when she heard footsteps approaching. “Archie? Does he know where we are?”

“I think so.” Brendan replied calmly.

“Brendan, what should I do? He- he’s going to kill me!” She began to hurriedly search for a place to hide but, despite the mess, she would still stick out like a sore thumb.

“May, listen to me.” Brendan said, approaching her once more. “I’ve been watching him, too. And I know what he’s planning. I don’t think he’s gonna kill you. But you need to make him tell you the truth.”

“Brendan, I-”

“If he tries anything, I’ll spook the pants off of him, okay?”

“I… I…” She was still terrified, but she nodded. “Okay.”

“Good. I’ll see you when this is all over.” And in an instant, he had vanished.

The moment he had disappeared, she heard a door break open. In that direction, she could see the bright light of a flashlight shinning, scanning the room in search of her.

“May?!” It was Archie’s voice. “May, are ya in here?!” May didn’t respond to him, choosing to pick up the blue orb at her feet instead. She knew what she would have to do. Finally, the light fell on her, and Archie headed her way. “Kiddo! There ya are, thank Arceus!” He slowed as he got closer to her. “Are ya hurt anywhere? Kid-”

“You’re gonna kill me, right?” May interrupted. Despite what Brendan said, she still felt terrified, but she tried to keep her voice steady. She held the blue orb in front of her and glared back at Archie. “Go ahead and try. If you get any closer, I swear I’ll break this.” She held it up in the air, clutching it tightly. For a moment, Archie didn’t say anything. He just looked at her. May glared back, trying her hardest not to show any doubt. She knew for a fact that she couldn’t break it. If it had survived falling onto a concrete ground from several stories, then there was no way her throw would shatter it. She’d just have to hope that Archie would fall for her bluff.

“May, I…” She saw him draw closer, and she tensed up but remained still. She had to be resilient. “I’m sorry. I’m not gonna kill ya. I couldn’t even dream of it.”

“Then why are you doing this?” May asked, her arm still held up high.

“I’m not gonna hurt anybody. I never was. It’s just… complicated, scamp.” Archie replied.

“That’s all you ever say!” May sighed. The man before her looked as nervous and uneasy as she was. Now that most of her panic had subsided, she began to doubt that Archie would ever actually think of killing her. “I want to trust you. I want to believe you. But you’ve been lying to me this whole time, and I know it. With Tabitha and Shelly… I heard you guys talking. About some big thing they wanted you to tell me. About something Maxie had done. But you still didn’t.” She remembered how early on, the day they had met, Archie had told her it was okay to cry, that feeling sad and scared wasn’t bad. She thought about all of the times he had been supportive of her, getting her to open up and be upset when normally she’d just keep quiet and keep to herself. “Friends trust each other and tell each other things. And we’re friends, aren’t we?”

“May, you’re…” He reached for his belt, grabbed one of his pokeballs and placed it on the ground before him. “You’re right. I shoulda told ya everything that’s been goin’ on.” He followed suit with his other pokemon, and finally May lowered her arm. “I’ll tell ya, okay? Why don’t ya sit down?” May cautiously sat down across from him, clutching the orb tightly in her arms. She made sure to sit in Swampert’s lap, so if Archie tried to pull anything, she’d be safe.

“Go on then.” She said.

So Archie told her. He had met Maxie when they were both very young, even younger than May was. Maxie had moved in from Lavaridge one summer. Archie felt bad for the kid who was all by himself all the time and decided to talk to him. Much to his surprise, Maxie wasn’t really that shy. He just never made an effort to talk to anyone, deciding if they were really worthwhile, they’d come to him first. Archie thought he was interesting. He loved nature and he loved people and he really wanted to help both. Even as a child, he was passionate; there was nothing he wanted more than to help the world. Archie was drawn to that passion immediately, and it wasn’t long before he had a crush. Maxie inspired him to think about what he wanted to do, as well. He loved the ocean. And above that, he loved all pokemon. His dream followed Maxie’s closely; they both wanted to find some way to make things better.

They had remained close throughout childhood and into college. It was there that their dreams became more solidified. They had both studied ecology and legendary pokemon. Archie loved the ocean; it was something he had loved ever since he had first laid eyes on it. And seeing the ocean polluted and the water pokemon living in it suffering broke his heart. But learning that there was a legendary pokemon out there that could expand it, creating a bigger, cleaner home for the pokemon that lived there made his imagination run wild. Maxie grew interested in a legendary pokemon as well. A creature that could expand the land was ideal for him. If the land was expanded, there would be more room for people and pokemon to live, and more resources for them to use. No one would have to be hungry or poor again!

It was around that time that the two of them began to argue. Their dreams, though similar in nature, were the exact opposite. Neither of them could have their dream come true without the other’s being ruined. They tried to keep it friendly for the most part, however, deciding to form an environmentalist team together with several friends, including Tabitha and Shelly. Things went all right for a while, but no one could deny the tension within the team. Most of the teammates picked a side, and tended to treat the other side with disdain. Archie and Maxie tried to keep it together but it didn’t last long.

Archie hated to admit it, but… he had been stabbing Maxie in the back. Despite his ever-present feelings for Maxie, he had really wanted his one dream to come true. And Archie wasn’t one to back down from a competition, no matter what it took. He had had some of his teammates- the ones more in favor of Kyogre than Groudon- mess with and sabotage the plans of the others, of Maxie’s; simply so he could be ahead.

Inevitably, he had been found out. And of course Maxie had been furious. Archie would never forget the expression he saw on Maxie’s face that day. Furious, betrayed… absolutely heartbroken at it all. He thought Archie’s dream was silly in comparison to his own, but he had supported it anyways, foolishly thinking that they’d find a way to manage both somehow. Of course, he had been wrong.

He kicked Archie and whoever followed him out, forming Team Magma on his own. He vowed to get Groudon at any cost, with or without Archie’s help. And in a fit of rage, Archie had determined he’d do the same; he’d beat Maxie at his own little game.

And that was how Team Aqua ended up so far behind from Team Magma. Maxie and his team worked hard on their goals: finding Groudon, finding a way to release and control it, spending years pouring over old texts and research looking for where it could be dwelling. Meanwhile, Team Aqua was far more focused on just stopping Team Magma in its place. It started out simply due to Archie’s desire for petty revenge, but soon enough it became clear to him that he really _did_ need to stop Maxie.

As time had passed, Maxie had become more and more ruthless with his schemes, taking to breaking into government buildings, stealing from people and even going as far as to attack anyone who got in their way. When Maxie had said that he’d get Groudon at any cost, he had meant it. And Archie knew better than anyone else that when Maxie set his eyes on something; it was his. It became even more worrisome when people in Magma itself were beginning to doubt their leader. Tabitha had even brought up that Groudon’s power, despite all the work that went into finding a way to control it, might be too much to handle, but Maxie didn't listen. 

Archie confronted Maxie in person for the first time in years after that, and the person he saw was someone he did not recognize. The calm collected Maxie, who had always analyzed the situation before taking any action immediately battled him and, much to his surprise, swept his team away in moments. He was so close to his goal, he was so close to being able to help everyone… that no one near him mattered to him anymore. The words of warning from the champion, Tabitha’s protests… he didn’t even blink an eye at seeing the best friend he hadn’t talked to in years. The words of a few didn’t matter in the face of what would surely help millions.

It was only when the beast was awakened that he had realized his mistakes. Everything that he had been warned about came true. Groudon was far too powerful to control, and it was raising Hoenn’s temperature and drying out the water quickly. Maxie immediately felt awful for what he had done, and traveled into the Cave of Origin alone, putting it on himself to stop the beast. Archie had tried to stop him, telling him it was far too dangerous to go in there alone. He had even offered to go with him. But Maxie had refused; explaining that he had caused this mess and it was up to him alone to fix it. The last thing he had done before entering the cave was apologize to Archie for everything he had done. He shut the door and barricaded it behind him; and not even an hour later the earthquakes and heat waves began.

“I just… feel so awful about it all.” Archie said quietly. “I know he was the one that technically did this, but… I can’t deny my role in it. All those years ago, if I hadn’t been so god damn proud, if I had just treated him like my friend instead of as a rival… I don’t know what woulda happened. But probably nothing like this.” He finally looked up at May nervously. Throughout the entirety of the story, he had been staring at the ground, anxiously fiddling with his bandanna. “I understand if you’re mad at him. And I understand if you’re mad at me, too. I was hopin’ I’d get ya back to your folks before I’d have to tell ya all this. But… I guess that’s no excuse. I shouldn’t have kept things from ya for so long. Seein’ what I’ve done, I’m probably one of the last people you should be travelin’ with. I’m really sorry, May. This isn’t how things were supposed to go.”

May stared at him in silence, unsure of what to do. Archie’s story… she believed it was the truth. She had seen Archie lie before, and he was bad at it. She even had to come up with a lie for him back in Petalburg, so she doubted that he could fabricate a story as detailed as this at a moment’s notice. But she was unsure of how to feel. She was confused, still. And angry, too. But at whom? She wasn’t sure. Archie had been foolish and stupid, but he hadn’t meant all of this. And then there was Maxie. She still didn’t know him that well, so it was hard to be that sympathetic. But would Archie be defending him so much if he was truly wicked? Somehow she doubted it. One thing she knew for certain was that, despite what he had done, May could not bring herself to hate Archie. The person before her was still her friend.

“One time…” May began, nervously playing with the blue orb in her hands. “One time, when I was visiting my grandma, she was making this big feast for my dad’s birthday. And I remember it was taking forever, and me and my grandma’s furret were super hungry. So the two of us stole some cake from their fridge. And we knocked it on the ground. I didn’t wanna get yelled at, so I said it was Furret that did it all. And everyone believed me. They didn’t give Furret dinner that night, saying that the cake he had destroyed was enough.” She paused. “I still feel really bad about it. I still haven’t told anyone about it. And I still haven’t apologized. That’s kinda how you feel, huh?” Archie said nothing, but a soft smile formed on his lips. “I’m still confused. And I’m still a little angry, but… I don’t think you’re all that bad.” Cautiously, she held out the orb to him. He took it slowly, but didn’t even look at it before placing it back on the ground. Instead he gave May a hug.

“Thanks, kiddo.” He said. “I really appreciate it.” May said nothing and hugged him back gently.

“So… what exactly is this thing for?” May asked after they separated, pointing at the orb. “Maxie took the first one, right? What is it?”

“It’s an ancient orb, said to have the ability to revive pokemon like Kyogre and Groudon as well as revert them to their primal forms. It’s kinda like mega evolution. Do ya know what that is?”

“Uh…” May glanced down at her bracelet. “A little.”

“It’s like that. With the power of the orbs, they can become really powerful. Maxie took the red one and used it to wake up Groudon. He thought he could control it, too, but that didn’t work.”

“So what are you gonna do with this one?” May asked. “You’re not… planning on waking up Kyogre with it, are you?”

“It’d be a lie to say I didn’t still want to, but…” He shook his head. “Seein’ the mess Groudon caused, I know better. Another thing I learned about these orbs is that they have a negative effect on the opposite pokemon. So this orb is supposed to weaken Groudon, and vice versa. If Maxie had planned ahead, he woulda taken this one as a back up plan, but I guess it didn’t occur to him.”

“Wait, Archie,” May gasped, “are you planning on fighting Groudon? All by yourself?”

“Well…” He eyed May nervously before smiling once more. “Shoot, kiddo, I can’t bring myself to lie to ya again. Yes. That’s what I’ve been plannin’ from the start.”

“But Archie, can you even do that?” May asked. “It’s killed so many people; do you even stand a chance?”

“You callin’ me a bad trainer, kiddo?” Archie chuckled. “Nah, I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you. What else could possibly happen to an old seadog like me?” May didn’t know what to say, and just looked at him nervously. “Lighten up, scamp. If there’s anything ya need to be worried about, it’s makin’ yourself look nice for your mom tomorrow… no, wait, today!” He jumped to his feet and held out a hand for May. “With all the time we’ve been wastin’, it’s gotta be daybreak by now. We should find our stuff and get headed.”

“Archie…” He had told her not to worry, but she still felt uneasy. Could someone like Archie really take down Groudon? She had seen him battle a couple of times, but a couple of shuppet and duskull in the wild was nothing in comparison to an actual god, a god that had killed at least thousands. She gulped and took his hand anyways. She was thankful that he had at least told her the truth.

The two of them returned to Aiko’s grave and, after saying their last goodbyes to the deceased pokemon, they set out. Just like Archie had said, it was already light outside. Well, as light as it could get with the heavy clouds everywhere. May had barely gotten a wink of sleep all night, but somehow she didn’t feel tired in the slightest. She was far too anxious for that. Archie told her it would only take a few hours at most to get to Lilycove from Mount Pyre. And while she was excited to reach the city, she was still terrified. What if the city was in a horrible state? They were getting closer and closer to the epicenter of the quakes, so it wouldn’t be that surprising. And she was worried about her mother. What if she had gotten hurt or what if she was dead, too? And then there was Archie. The two of them would be parting ways soon, wouldn’t they? She wasn’t sure if she was ready for that yet. In this horrible, catastrophic world, he had been one of the few constants in her life. She was a little scared to let him go.

Especially considering what his fate would likely be.

When May reached the dock on the opposing side of Mount Pyre, she waited patiently for Archie to join her. Unlike the other side of the mountain, there was no convenient ledge for Archie’s crobat to fly them to. They had to walk in the drained moat and climb back up to the road. As she waited for Archie to reach her location, she couldn’t help but gaze back at the looming figure of Mount Pyre. As she looked upon the yellow, fading grass, she felt herself shiver. Which was strange, considering how unbearably hot it was outside. But that’s when she recalled once again that feeling cold was a sign that a ghost might be nearby.

“Brendan?” May asked quietly.

“Sorry scamp, what was that?” Archie asked as he finally climbed onto the ledge.

“Oh, uh-” When May gazed back at him, the cold feeling had vanished. She didn’t worry about it too much. Brendan had said before that ghosts could only be seen at places like Mount Pyre. If he were trailing along, she wouldn’t be able to interact with him anymore. She stretched her arm up and sighed. “I was stretching.” Archie looked a little skeptical, but shrugged it off.

“Ready to go, kiddo? Lilycove’s not too far off now.” Archie said.

“Yes. I’m ready.” May said, taking a deep breath.

May was still worried for the future, but she took comfort knowing that, with Brendan here, she’d never truly be alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I actually do have a whole backstory planned out for Archie and Maxie that I plan to explore in a different fic after I'm done with this one. It's a little different, but it starts out the same. I always envisioned them as childhood friends who had a bad falling out, and that remains consistent. It'll be nice to have a solely Archie/Maxie focused fic sometime anyways. At this point this fic's about half over, but we still have quite some way to go. Again, thanks for all the positive feedback thus far, it really keeps me going!


	7. Lilycove

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another v long chapter

“Ya ever been to Lilycove before, May?” Archie asked.

“Once, I think,” May replied with a grimace, “Mom took me shopping and it was _really_ boring.”

“Aw, shoot, is that really all ya got to see?” She nodded. “Lilycove is so beautiful! I always considered livin’ there, but I just like Slateport too much. The sea surrounds the whole place! It’s stunning.” May didn’t respond, continuing to navigate through the once tall grass in silence. “Uh… if you’re not a big fan of that, the art museum’s pretty cool, too. I remember Maxie really liked it! He even recognized a lotta the pieces from Kalos! He studied abroad there for half a year. I’ve always wanted to go, but the language’s kinda tricky…” He was beginning to ramble, and the longer he went on, the more awkward it had become. May could feel the tension, but didn’t know how to break her silence quite yet. Lilycove couldn’t be that far away now, and while she was still a little uneasy, she was too close to really care.

“How much farther is it?” She asked impatiently.

“Excited, huh?” Archie replied with a chuckle. “Just a little further through the grass, and it should be right ahead of us.” May began to move quicker through the grass, eager to finally reach the city. While she was still a little scared, she couldn’t deny that she was just so close to her final goal. And while she liked Archie, she’d give anything to be able to see her family again. Well, at least part of her family.

When the two of them reached Lilycove she was disappointed but unsurprised by what lay before her. The city was even more of a wreck than Petalberg had been. Lilycove should have been in sight from Route 121, but she had been unable to see any of the landmarks. She had naively figured that it was due to her height and the tall- but dead- grass that was in the way, but she was wrong. Most of the tall buildings had been knocked down to size; making the motel seem like a skyscraper. Just like the cities and towns she had seen beforehand, Lilycove had its fair share of broken homes and businesses. The museum had become a shattered, caved in mess while the Lilycove Department Building was completely leveled, leaving behind a large pile of debris and ash-covered products. The first thing that caught May’s eye however was not the decimated city; no, she was quite used to that by this point. Instead, it was the backdrop of the city. Archie wasn’t lying when he said the sea surrounded the entire city. May was sure it was beautiful when the water was still there. Now Lilycove looked like nothing more than a ruined city in the middle of a dry, decaying dessert.

The depressing scene of the city was hard to ignore, but seeing a few people up and about raised her hopes. May broke into a sprint, immediately heading towards the remains of the department store.

“Wait, May!” Archie called out, nervously following behind. “Don’t ya wanna stop and rest for a sec? The pokemon center looked pretty intact.” Just a few hours ago, he had been excitedly asking May about her mother and all the things they’d do together once they had found her, and now he was being skeptical. May noticed it immediately, but decided not to call him out on it right now. She knew deep down he was likely only doing it to prolong the inevitable.

“Mom?” May called out desperately. She looked around the piles of rubble, some of which were twice as high as Archie and felt herself begin to panic. There was so much: beams, wires, cabinets and shelves… tons and tons of broken, dusty debris lay all around her… and somewhere, underneath it all was her mom... right? May immediately began digging through one of the large piles; desperately searching for something, anything that may have indicated that her mother had been there.

“May, I don’t think this is safe…” Archie said, standing a few feet behind her.

“Mom?” She called out, still ignoring him. “Mom, where are you?!” She tore through the pile of debris but saw no sign of anything: just the shattered, broken remains of hundreds of products. But she didn’t care. She kept digging through anyways. She was so close. She was so, so close. Her mom had to be here! She just had to!

She was pulled from her thoughts when she had accidentally slid her finger across a broken vase, slicing it open. She quickly drew back her hand and winced in pain. It wasn’t big, but it was just enough to get her to stop.

“Scamp, you okay?” Archie finally managed his way through the mess towards her. She didn’t say anything in response, instead just choosing to curl her injured hand into a fist to ignore the minor pain. “We probably shouldn’t be hangin’ around in here, kiddo.” She continued to ignore him, so he sighed. “Look, I know ya don’t wanna leave, but somethin’ tells me this department store’s been like this for awhile now. If your mom got out, she’s not gonna be here, okay?”

“If.” May replied bitterly.

“May-”

“Um, excuse me?” The voice startled the two of them, and when they turned around, they saw a girl heading towards them, looking concerned. “Are you two lost?”

May gasped at the sight of her. Her mom had always told her that it was rude to focus on someone’s looks, but May couldn’t help it with this girl. She couldn’t be more than a year or two older than May, and she almost looked as if the apocalypse hadn’t affected her. Her blue sundress was clean with no tears or holes, her green hair was washed and tied up neatly, and even the goggles she wore to protect her eyes were covered in plastic, shiny jewels. She was the brightest thing the two had seen in a while, excluding the people in Mauville. But even they didn’t dress up as brightly as her.

The only sign that anything had affected her was her right arm, which had been cut off just above the elbow. It was recent enough to still require bandaging, but even those were clean and someone, the girl or some of her friends May assumed, had draw pictures all over it. A swablu was perched on her shoulder, and it eyed May and Archie curiously.

“We’re not lost. We’re just looking for someone.” May finally replied.

“Well, you’re not going to find anyone here. This place is ultra dangerous; no one comes here anymore unless they super need something. I can show you guys where all the people are, if you want.”

“Really?” May asked.

“Yeah. There’s, like, a bunch of places where survivors are hiding out, I can- oh! I almost forgot!” She beamed and struck a pose, her swablu following suit and flying elegantly above her. “My name’s Lisia! Contest Spectacular Idol-to-be, at your service!”

“Um… hi.” May replied. “I’m May.” She held out her right hand out of instinct but quickly brought it back when she remembered what Lisia’s was like. Lisia just giggled and held out her left hand instead.

“There’s a reason we got left hands, I guess.” The two of them shook hands, and that’s when she finally seemed to notice Archie. “You there, watching me with that baffled expression on your face!” She exclaimed, pointing at him. “What’s your name?”

“Uh… it’s Archie.” He replied, looking confused.

“Hmm… you look slightly familiar…” She said, squinting at Archie. “But… I can’t seem to place you. Sure it’ll come back to me later. We should probably go. After all…” She stopped once again to strike another pose. “’Two new strangers: searching for their own fateful encounter!’ It’s so exciting, isn’t it?” May and Archie just stared at her. “Right, right, we should be going! Just follow me!”

She was strange, but she seemed friendly enough, so May and Archie followed behind her as Lisia excitedly discussed the goings on in Lilycove. She seemed very passionate about the city and all its people, despite the circumstances. May couldn’t understand why, but she supposed the enthusiasm at least made her interesting to listen to.

“Things got pretty messed up when this all started, but the people of Lilycove have kept their heads high!” She exclaimed. “The nice old man that owns the inn has taken in lots of people. Even my fanclub has been making room to help others out!”

“You have a fanclub?” May asked.

“Mmm-hmm!” Lisia replied. “I’m a contest spectacular idol in training, you know! I’m a big hit here! I was about to make my national debut, but then… well… things happen! They’re all super nice people. I just wish I could’ve helped more, but my poor contest hall…” For the first time all day, she sounded the slightest bit sad. She gestured to the contest hall, which had mostly collapsed in on itself. “Most of it has been destroyed. It’s so sad, but… it’s always good to stay positive; things could’ve been much worse, right?”

Lisia led May and Archie to the pokemon center, the Lilycove Motel, and even the Contest Spectacular Fanclub. All of them were incredibly crowded, which wasn’t surprising, seeing how big Lilycove was. With hundreds of homes destroyed, that left hundreds of families homeless. Well, the ones that were still alive, anyways. But in every shelter they visited, her mother was nowhere to be seen. May was beginning to feel hopeless again, and she could feel her chest grow heavy, like it had while she was searching for her dad. She took deep breaths, trying to stay calm.

“Chin up, May! There’s always one more place we can check.” Lisia said, just as they were leaving the motel. “Though I don’t know if it’s very busy right now.”

Lisia led May and Archie to the Lilycove harbor. She had been here once before, when her mom brought her to Lilycove to shop. She thought the harbor building was loud and crowded but at least riding the ferry had been fun. She and her mom even got their own room together! It reminded her of a cheesy romance her mom had watched that took place on a fancy boat. She hadn’t paid much attention to the movie, and eventually her mom had stopped it, telling her she could watch it all when she was older at one point, but the thought of riding on some fancy boat seemed adventurous and fun somehow. She figured she’d like to do it again sometime, assuming that the water ever did come back.

The harbor building was deserted, but it looked as if it had been in use recently. The ground was covered in dirt footprints and pokemon tracks going every direction. The sheer amount of them lead May to believe that it had been unbearably crowded in here not too long ago.

“Aww, shoot! Guess nothing’s heading out right now.” Lisia said.

“Out?” Archie replied. “Don’t tell me the boats are still runnin’.”

“Of course they’re not. But that’s not stopping people from traveling.” She said with a smile. “Did you know that if you travel far enough out in that wasteland, you’ll eventually find water? It takes awhile. A really, really long while. But get far enough, and the sea becomes the sea again.”

“So this didn’t affect the entire world?” May asked.

“I don’t think so. At least, that’s what Mr. Briney said. Dazzling, isn’t it?”

“So where have people been goin’?” Archie asked.

“Sinnoh. Johto. Kanto.” Lisia shrugged. “Wherever they need to go, really. Everyone’s out of gas, but people who own bigger pokemon like tropius and aggron have been using them to pull busses and cars in exchange for water, food, other stuff.... It’s kinda like a rapidash-drawn carrage, y’know? Anyways, they’ve been pulling them out until water begins to be water again, and there, boats from other regions have been taking in refugees.” She smiled. “Amazing what people come up with in times of need, am I right?”

“Did my mom leave?” May asked.

“Um… I’m not sure. Oh, wait!” She gasped. “I never asked what her name is. That should help a bunch.”

“It’s Caroline. Caroline S-”

“Oh my gosh!” Lisia interrupted, covering her mouth with her hand. “You mean you’re that May?? You’re Norman’s daughter?!”

“Well, yeah, I-”

“Ohhhh my gosh!!” She grabbed ahold of May’s hand excitedly. “I've heard so much about you!”

“So, you met my mom?” May asked, starting to grow excited, too.

“Yup! Caroline is totally the sweetest!” Lisia paused for a moment, her excited smile quickly fading. “Well, I mean, she was.”

“…Was?” May felt her stomach drop in an instant. “Lisia, what do you mean?”

“Well, I…” Her sunny disposition dropped once again, and Lisia looked nervous. “Um… can you come with me?”

Lisia brought the two of them back towards the entrance of Lilycove. May asked her a barrage of questions, but Lisia kept quiet, only replying with a nod or a nervous smile. May figured she knew the answer, but she refused to believe it until she saw it with her own eyes. Once they reached the shattered remains of the museum, Lisia stopped.

“We… for awhile we were keeping people in the museum, too. Lilycove has a lot of people, you know? And with so many houses destroyed…” She sighed. “Caro… your mom was living here for awhile, like many other survivors. But about a week ago… no, wait, has it been two weeks now? Three? There was this really bad earthquake. I dunno if it hit where you guys were, but it was super duper bad. I thought the whole world was going to split in two…” May nervously traced the scar on her back through her clothes, figuring she knew which quake Lisia was talking about. “When it hit, the museum went down. We tried to get as many people out, but… your mom wasn’t one of them. I’m sorry, May.”

“It’s…” _All right_. That’s what May wanted to say. _It’s all right._ Lisia looked nervous enough as it was; would there really be a point in making her feel worse? But… despite it all, she couldn’t bring herself to say it. Because it wasn’t all right. At all. “I… I need to be by myself right now.” May finally said. Before Archie or Lisia could protest, she began to run, looking for someplace secluded and empty. It was hard in a place like Lilycove. It was far more crowded than Petalberg had been, and even though most people remained indoors, May still passed several on the streets. She noticed many parents out with their children. There were some single parents out, their significant other missing or possibly deceased. Despite her best judgment, May couldn’t help but look upon them bitterly. At least their children still had one. She had no one left.

She finally stopped when she had reached the Lilycove lighthouse. She would’ve preferred somewhere indoors, but it seemed that there were very few unoccupied, intact buildings in Lilycove. At least the lighthouse cast a long, cool shadow that she could sit in and be alone. Once she sat down and caught her breath, she let herself cry. What was the point in hiding it anymore? It wasn’t like her father was there to scold her. It wasn’t like her mother would hear her and ask her what was wrong. Her family was gone. And nothing would bring them back.

May couldn’t get her mother off of her mind. She realized now just how long it had been since she had heard her voice. The day this whole ordeal had started, she had asked May if she wanted to go shopping with her, but May had turned it down, instead deciding to stay and play with Brendan instead. Why… in the world had she done that? Her mom had been here all by herself, simply because May was too selfish to spend time with her! What must it have been like? At least May had had Archie. Her mom had been alone this whole time, surrounded by strangers, until she had finally died… alone and scared.

May was starting to wonder why in the world she hadn’t died that very first day. Why hadn’t the house caved in on her and killed her? If not that, why had she survived that fall on route 110? Why had she lived when so many people had not? It seemed almost cruel for her to still be here while her mother and father were not. They were such important, wonderful people. They had done so much and were likely going to continue to do so. What in the world had she done to deserve to live? During the past month and a half, what had she done other than get hurt and cry? It was pathetic.

But despite it all, a selfish part of her couldn’t help but cry for herself. Now what in the world was she going to do? The sole reason she had set out on this journey was to find her parents. She figured somehow, she would reunite with them and they’d all find some way to live happily ever after. But now what would become of her? She’d never be able to watch her dad battle again, nor would she be able to train with him like she had always wanted to. She’d never be able to have her mom tutor her on the homework she didn’t understand again, nor would she be able to impress her mom with how smart she’d become. She’d never have a family to grow up with. So what in the world was left for her? More heat, more desperation, more pain… what other options did she have? What could she possibly do?

“May,” Archie said gently, standing a few feet away from her. May hadn’t noticed him show up, but she wasn’t surprised. She was sure that sooner or later he’d find her hiding spot. “Scamp, you okay?”

“Archie…” _I’m fine. I’m all right. I just need a minute._ All of those options flashed through her mind, but none of them came out. None of them were the truth. And what was the point in lying anymore? “No. No, I’m not okay! I miss my mom, I-I miss my dad… Archie, I’m never gonna see them again!” She whimpered. “I want to see my family again! I just… I just want to go home!” Archie drew closer, eventually sitting down beside her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, obviously in an attempt at comfort. However, he still remained silent. May supposed she couldn’t fault him for that. What in the world could he say or do in this situation? All that remained of her home was the crumbling remains of their house in Littleroot, and her family was nothing more than two crushed corpses in two separate locations in Hoenn. He could tell her that she was okay, and that everything was going to be all right, but the both of them knew those were just kind, useless words. He couldn’t get her what she wanted. He couldn’t even try. The best he could do for now was sit beside her and pat her back gently as she wept into her dirty, ash-stained hands.

Eventually her sobs quieted to whimpers and small hiccups. She was still upset, of course, but she could only cry for so long. When she looked up, she finally noticed the view before her. As far as she could see, there was nothing but dirt and sand, sitting where a once beautiful ocean used to be. The sky was getting darker, May noticed. How long had she been sitting there crying?

“How’re ya feelin’?” Archie asked.

“Bad.” May replied. “But not as bad as before, I guess.”

“I’m really sorry about your mom. That must-”

“Please don’t talk about it right now.” May said. “I… I don’t…”

“It’s okay, scamp.” Archie replied. “If that’s what ya want.”

They sat in silence for a while longer, neither of them knowing what to say to the other. May knew they should be getting up and finding someplace to stay for the night. It was dangerous and dark and unsettling at night; May had seen it first hand the night before. But she couldn’t bring herself to get up quite yet. She just felt so… drained. And it wasn’t like she had anything she needed to hurry for. She had all the time in the world.

“Look at that, kiddo.” Archie finally said, pointing towards the landscape before her. The sun was setting in the distance, and she could just barely see the bright orange orb through the thick, ashen clouds. It bathed the dirt filled valley with an orange light, making it look as if there was something still occupying it. “Almost looks like the ocean’s still there. Huh. Didn’t realize the sunsets still looked kinda nice.”

“Yeah.” May responded quietly. It did sort of look like the ocean was still there. She didn’t think about it much until now, but she really did miss the ocean. She had missed it ever since she had moved to Littleroot, actually. “I hope we get to see it again someday.”

“I’m sure ya will. I’m positive of it.” May wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but before she could ask, Lisia strolled in, looking concerned.

“Oh… there you two are! Gosh, I was looking all over!” She exclaimed. “I thought you two had run off without even saying goodbye!”

“Nah, we wouldn’t do that.” Archie replied. “Right, May?”

“I might.” May said in an attempt to be funny. Lisia put her hand over her mouth gasped dramatically, and Archie just laughed.

“Well, since you’re still here, I was wondering if I could borrow you for a sec, May.” Lisia continued.

“For what?” May asked.

“It’s a secret.” Lisia replied, raising a finger to her lips. “C’mon!”

“Should I?” May whispered, looking up at Archie expectantly.

“Why not? It’s about time ya hung out with someone closer to your age.” Archie shrugged. “Besides, what’re ya askin’ me for? I’m not your dad.”

May figured she couldn’t argue with that and followed Lisia through the quickly darkening streets of Lilycove. May could barely make it out in the darkness, but she eventually led her to the mostly destroyed Contest Hall.

“What are we doing here?” May asked.

“Oh. Right, I live here!” Lisia replied cheerfully. She pushed some debris out of the way, revealing a narrow tunnel into the building. “Don’t just stand there. Come on!” Curiously, May followed behind as Lisia led the way. The pace was slow, but May couldn’t really blame her. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how hard it was to crawl with only one arm. Finally, the tunnel lead to a large room. Or… what used to be a large room. The ceiling had caved in to the point where it hung only a few inches above her head.

“Don’t worry.” Lisia said, noticing May looking at it nervously. “It’s pretty sturdy. It’s not going to fall anytime soon.”

Despite the caved in ceiling, it was still quite a large room. The walls were lined with mirrors, most of which were still in tact, and beneath them were counters with all sorts of make up, accessories, and a couple cans of food. Something told her those weren’t originally there. There was a dresser against the wall, inside was an assortment of messy costumes and a few clean ones. On the floor was a pile of blankets and a few pillows.

“You live here?” May asked. “Why?” It wasn’t necessarily a bad place, but it was a little dangerous. That, and why in the world would someone as young and loved as Lisia live all by herself? “I’m sure the people at the fanclub would take you in.”

“I’m sure they would, too.” Lisia replied, fiddling with her flashlight. “But think of all the poor souls who need more help than I do! This idol-to-be is plenty capable on her own!” She smacked the flashlight a few times, before it finally blinked and went off completely. “Shoot.”

“I got it.” May said, grabbing Gardevoir’s pokeball. “Gardevoir, use flash!” Her gardevoir complied, filling the room with a dazzling light.

“Whoa… WHOAAA!!” Lisia exclaimed. She hopped to her feet and grabbed Gardevoir’s hand in her own. “Dizzying… dazzling… May, your gardevoir is stunning!!! She’d be amazing in a cleverness contest… beauty, too…” Her gardevoir looked at May nervously, a little flustered at the stranger holding her hand. May just smiled at her and shrugged. “Oh, right, that’s why I brought you here!” She let go of Gardevoir’s hand and rushed over to one of the many drawers that lined the wall. “When I’m sad, nothing cheers me up better than having some sweets!” Her swablu landed on her shoulder, and gestured towards another drawer with its wing. “That, and spending time with my little Ali, of course!” She nuzzled the swablu and reached for the drawer, pulling out a strange pink stick. It sort of reminded May of the fake wand she had when she dressed up as a princess when she was younger, and knowing Lisia, it wouldn’t be surprising if she just had one. “C’mon, sit down!!” Lisia said, plopping down on the makeshift bedding. May sat across from her and Gardevoir sat on one of the many chairs in the room, watching over the two- especially the swablu- cautiously.

“What is that?” May asked.

“It’s a pokeblock case! Do you know what those are?” May shook her head. “It’s super neat! You mix berries together into little cubes. And they can make a pokemon more cute looking, or tough, and so on. They’re safe for people to eat, too!” She pulled out an assortment of pokeblocks, all of which were different colors.

“This is… pokemon food?” May asked, eyeing them nervously.

“I swear they’re good!” Lisia exclaimed. “Trust me. Look.” She took a red one and popped it in her mouth. May still wasn’t certain, but she was hungry. And it clearly hadn’t killed Lisia, so she went along with it. She took the pink one and- much to her surprise- it wasn’t disgusting. In fact, it was really sweet. It tasted like the fruity candy she’d get whenever she went to the movies with her parents.

“Whoa.” May said.

“See, I told you.” Lisia said with a smirk.

“Well, did it make me look different? Do I look smarter? Or cooler?”

“No, but it definitely did work.” She reached forward and pinched May’s cheek. “You look even cuter than you did before!”

“Lisia!” May giggled, pushing her hand away.

“Here’s one for you, Ali!” She said, handing her swablu a blue one. “And I wouldn’t forget about you, Miss Gardevoir.” She tossed a green one to her, and while she was cautious, she seemed to enjoy it. May watched Lisia with a smile. With so much going on, it was refreshing to see someone like her who, despite all the stressful circumstances, took the time to think of and care for others.

“How do you do it?” May finally asked.

“Do what? Make pokeblocks?” Lisia questioned. “I’d show you that, but we’d need power to-”

“No, not that.” Though now that she had mentioned it, May was a little curious. “I meant… how are you so… happy about everything?” Lisia just looked at her, and May immediately regretted what she said. She had said something similar to Brendan earlier, and it had clearly upset him. “I-I mean… when I saw you, you just looked so… odd, I guess?” That was even worse. “Not in a bad way! I mean you look like how people looked before all this! And you just seem so happy and confident and I guess… I’m jealous, maybe?”

“May, it’s all right.” Lisia said, putting her hand on her shoulder to reassure her. “That’s actually a question I get a lot.”

“It is?”

“Mm-hmm.” She nodded. “Say, May, do you know what a contest idol does?”

“No, not really. I never got around to seeing any. And we didn’t have contests in Johto.”

“What, really? That’s an atrocity! As soon as I get the chance I’m totally going to introduce contests there!” She straightened and continued. “In a contest, a coordinator, or if they’re really popular, a contest idol, has their pokemon preform on stage, utilizing its moves in a way that is supposed to dazzle the audience. There’s competition, of course, but there’s no actual fighting. It’s more about showing off your own pokemon’s skills than it is beating your opponents. A lot of people think that all there is to pokemon is battling, and contests show that that’s not the case.” Lisia smiled, and May couldn’t help but smile along with her. Lisia seemed dazzled herself just talking about the whole thing, and it was contagious. “I first found out about contests when I was, like, three. My Uncle Wall used to preform in them all the time, and mom finally had me come out here to Lilycove to watch him. And needless to say…I was amazed! Uncle Wall is an amazing trainer, but his battling doesn’t even come close to what he does on stage! I didn’t know that the milotic he used to defeat so many in battle could be such a beautiful, elegant creature. I wanted to be like that, too. So he helped me catch my dear little Ali and train him for contests.” Ali reacted to his name and nuzzled against Lisia’s neck playfully. She petted him gently in response.

“That’s awesome.” May said.

“I know, right? But… after I started training to become an idol, I noticed something else. Watching the pokemon preform was one thing, but watching the audience… that dazzled me the most. I’ve seen many negative reactions to battles. People get angry or depressed when they lose and sometimes when they win, they use their pokemon’s power to their advantage. That… doesn’t really happen in contests. During contests, everyone is so… happy. It’s never about beating someone else. It’s always about seeing how far the friendship between a trainer and their pokemon can go. The moment I went on stage, people were so happy to see me. I got a fanbase really quickly and it made me so happy to see what I was doing brought joy to people.” She paused. “So… when all of this happened, it meant I really had to step up my game. When disaster strikes, people panic, and the best way to calm panic is to make people happy, y’know? I’ve been keeping up appearances and staying calm because if it means I can make a couple people happy in these tough times then… well… it’s worth it.”

It was a lot to take in. May wasn’t quite sure what she had expected, but it certainly wasn’t that. Lisia truly was an admirable person. She regretting thinking she was weird earlier. Sure, she was weird in her own way, but it was true that her peppiness and optimism had eased her worries at least slightly. She had no idea how much more distraught she’d be if she had had to find out about her mother’s demise all on her own. She supposed finding out through Lisia was better than finding her body.

But… despite all that, she couldn’t help but wonder…

“But what about you?” May finally asked.

“Huh?”

“You’re spending so much time making sure everyone else is okay. But what about you? Are you okay?”

“May, you…” May was worried for a moment that Lisia was going to get upset or maybe even cry, but instead she began to giggle. “You’re just like your mom.”

“Huh? I am?”

“Exactly like her! You could really tell she wasn’t from around here. She had no idea who I was! And… she was the only one to ever ask me how I was doing.”

“Really?” May asked sadly.

“Oh, don’t give me that look. I’m all right. Just knowing that people care about me is enough, really.” She paused, idly stroking the bandages covering her stump arm. “Y’know… it was your mom that saved my life.”

“She did?” May gasped.

“Yeah. I was preparing for a contest when the earthquakes started. I was on stage rehearsing with Ali when it all came crashing down on top of me. Ali was able to use aerial ace to get some of the stuff pushed off of me, but… it was simply too much for him to do on his own. My arm was completely crushed and I honestly thought I was gonna die, but… your mom heard me. She and a bunch of others got me out of that mess. My arm was a broken mess and got infected but… your mom stayed with me the whole time while it was getting dealt with. And she stayed with me til… the end, really. She was really, really nice. But she kept calling me May. Which is fair, because I kept calling her mom.”

“That’s… amazing.” May said. Sure, she was a little jealous that Lisia had gotten to spend time with her mom when she didn’t but… she supposed it warmed it heart knowing that her mom was never alone here. “Thanks, Lisia.”

“Of course.” She replied with a shrug. No one spoke for a moment, and May became aware of just how quiet it was in that dressing room.

“Lisia… where’s your mom? Or your uncle?” She finally asked. “Is anyone staying here with you?”

“Nope. My mom, um… she was in Sootopolis. I waited and waited for her to come back with all the survivors, but…” She shook her head. “You know how it goes. As for Uncle Wall… I’m worried about him.”

“So he’s still alive?” May asked.

“I want to believe he is. Apparently he was in Sootopolis when all this happened, and he and the champion wound up in Mossdeep City. A couple of weeks ago, the two of them set out to Sootopolis to see if they could stop Groudon. But neither of them have returned yet, I’ve heard.”

“Wait, so your uncle’s the water type gym leader?” May gasped.

“Yup. Small world, isn’t it?” She giggled. “Everyone’s losing hope in them but I still believe. They’re two of the strongest trainers in all of Hoenn! I’m worried, but they’ve got to be okay!” May didn’t know what to say for a moment. She wanted to reach out and agree, telling Lisia that she was sure that the pair would be fine. But she knew just how fake and fleeting those words were. In a world like this, a person’s guarantee didn’t mean much, no matter how kind-hearted it was. She smiled anyways and chose to pat Lisia on the back gently. “Thanks, May. But it’s fine. I just gotta keep my head up! It’s so easy to get discouraged when things are bad, so you gotta find something to work towards everyday!”

“Yeah.” May replied. She supposed Lisia was right about that. After all, that’s what she had been doing, too. Since day one, she had had a goal in this devastated world. Finding her parents was the driving force that got her through each day. It had been so easy to wake up and keep walking despite how tired and sore she was when she had that end goal in mind. But now what in the world was she going to do? That goal was gone, and she had failed. What was she supposed to do now? “But what if that thing you’re working for… ends? Then what?”

“Well, that’s easy.” Lisia shrugged. “You just have to find something new to work towards.”

* * *

May spent the night in the crowded inn. As nice as it was hanging out with Lisia, she didn’t want to leave Archie all alone in the city. She had actually gotten to sleep in an actual bed for what felt like the first time in ages. Of course, she had had to share it with two other children, but it was still a step up in comparison to the overused sleeping bag she had been sleeping in.

When she got up the next morning, she was virtually alone. She was utterly exhausted and Archie had let her sleep in. Besides, for the first time in over a month, she didn’t actually have anything to do. And they both knew it. In fact, it was Lisia who woke her the next day, and at that point, it was already almost noon. Lisia wanted to hang out with her and her pokemon in her fort again, and May went along with it. She hadn’t been able to hang out with someone her own age since she saw Wally in Petalberg, and as much as she liked Archie’s company, she supposed she missed being with other kids. Besides, chatting with Lisia came naturally to her. She was fun to be around, even if she was a bit strange at times. Lisia was showing May how to show off her gardevoir’s beauty and cleverness when the two of them were finally interrupted.

“Kids?” They could hear Archie’s voice coming from the narrow tunnel. “Are you two in there?”

“I’m here!” May responded.

“Okay, then I’ll-”

“Hold it! Nope!” Lisia exclaimed. “No adults allowed in my palace!”

“Oh.” May could hear Archie holding back a laugh from the other side. “I can respect that. Can I borrow May for a bit?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.” May said. She returned Gardevoir and crawled out through the tunnel to greet Archie. He was inspecting the crushed building nervously, and looked relieved when May emerged.

“Thank Arceus you’re okay! I looked all over for ya!” He paused and looked at the remains of the building once again. “Are ya sure it’s safe to be playin’ in there?”

“I think so? Lisia’s been in there for awhile now.”

“Well… that’s good.” Archie idly scratched the back of his neck. Clearly, he was nervous.

“Is something wrong?” May asked.

“Well, uh…” He sighed. “No. I just need to talk to ya.” He held his hand out to her. “Walk with me?” This was unusual, but she took his hand anyways, and the two of them began to walk towards the Inn.

“What’s going on, Archie?” May asked. “You weren’t there when I woke up.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. There was some stuff I needed to do.”

“Stuff for travel, right? Are we heading to Sootopolis soon?”

“That’s what I needed to talk to ya about.” He said. They reached the hotel, and sat down on an unoccupied bench inside. “We need to talk about where you’ll be goin’.”

“What do you mean?” May asked. She could feel her stomach drop but she kept her composure. He seemed just as nervous as her and cleared his throat before speaking.

“I don’t think I should take ya to Sootopolis with me. We’ve been travelin’ together in search of your folks, but that’s… over. It’s not like you’re lookin’ for anyone in Sootopolis. There’s just no reason for me to bring ya along. I think it’s time ya went home.” Before May had the chance to protest or ask exactly what he meant, Archie pulled out a slip of paper from his backpack and held it out to her. It didn’t look very official. In fact, it looked like it had been ripped from a notepad. In fairly neat handwriting it read: _Child. One-Way: Johto._

“Archie, what is this?” May asked.

“It’s a ticket to Johto. Olivine City, to be exact. I know it’s not fancy, but it’s the best they could do.” May didn’t say anything, instead just looking at the makeshift ticket nervously, flipping it over again and again as if an explanation would be written on one side. “Back in Petalburg, I promised I wouldn’t leave your side until you were safe. I was bein’ naïve, figurin’ that we would find your mom no matter what. I was wrong, but… I want to keep my promise.”

“Archie…”

“Please, listen to me. It won’t be safe in Sootopolis. I don’t want to bring ya there, but I will make sure you’re safe. You’ve got relatives in Olivine, right? You can have a home there. I was so worried about findin’ ya a safe place. You’ve been through so much already and I don’t wanna make ya go through more when ya don’t need to. I don’t want to tell ya what to do, but I think… I think this is the best option for ya.” She didn’t know what to say. All she could do was stare at the ticket in her hands. She supposed that the whole purpose of her journey was to find her family. She couldn’t deny what he was saying. It was true that she had nowhere else to go and, despite their journey, Hoenn was still a foreign land to her. She certainly didn’t have any idea of what else she could possibly do here.

“What time… will I be leaving?” She asked reluctantly.

* * *

 

The transportation to Johto was to leave at dawn the next morning. Archie had May go to bed early the night before so she’d be up and ready to go when the time came. But she couldn’t bring herself to sleep in the slightest. She couldn’t stop thinking about the day to come. Sure, she wanted to go home. She missed her grandma dearly, and she was sure she must be worried about her too. And it had been so long since she had been in a familiar place, with familiar company, with clean air to breathe and a cool area to live. She longed for it, but yet she still felt uneasy. After all she and Archie had been through it was just… over? It didn’t seem right, and she couldn’t help but feel guilty. After all, what about him? He was planning on going to Sootopolis, yes, but did he really have a plan? What was he going to do when he got there? Would he find Maxie? What if he died before he even got the chance? Archie was an adult, and she knew he could take care of himself, but she couldn’t help but worry the night away. After all, how many other capable adults had been lost in this mess?

The next morning, Archie was sure to give May everything she’d need: an extra water bottle, some snacks for the way, he had even managed to find some soap. 

“To wash your face with.” He had said. “Your grandma lives in Olivine, right? Better wash your face before ya get there. I know my grandma woulda nagged at me for hours if I showed up all dirty.” For some reason, he seemed to be in high spirits while he walked May to the harbor. Once they arrived at the harbor, however, they stopped in their tracks. The harbor, which had looked all but abandoned just the day prior, was now a bustling, crowded mess. May had heard from Lisia that this transport out of Hoenn was relatively new, so it was no surprise that it’d be packed with people desperate to leave. But it still caught May by surprise. She didn’t know there were even this many people left.

Just above the harbor entrance was a sign that read _NO ENTRY WITHOUT TICKET_. May gulped at the sight of it; clearly she’d be going in there alone. She and Archie stepped to the side of the building, out of the way of the crowds, to say their last goodbyes. Archie knelt down to her level, and put his hand on her shoulder gently.

“Looks like this is where I’ll be leavin’ ya.” He said.

“Yeah…” She replied, nervously playing with the straps of her backpack.

“C’mon, scamp, you should be excited!” He exclaimed. “It’s all over! Sure, we didn’t find what we were lookin’ for, but… you’re almost home. It’s gonna be all right.”

“Y-yeah…” May said, nodding quickly.

“Do ya have your ticket? You should probably get that out.”

“Right, okay…” She fiddled through her backpack, and found the ticket inside a small notepad. She paused, before pulling the whole thing out, along with a pen. She quickly wrote down her grandma’s address and ripped out the page for Archie. “Here! That way you can write me when everything goes back to normal!”

“Huh?” Archie took it, looking at it idly. “Y-yeah, I definitely will.”

“Promise me.” May persisted. “Promise me you’ll be careful, and safe, and that you’ll write me when you get back! Please!” They both knew how futile that request was. May had even said that no promise was guaranteed back in Petalberg, and they both knew it. But May persisted anyways.

“May…” For a moment, his happy façade dropped, replaced with an expression she had never seen on him before. Before he could say anything more, she held out her hand and extended her pinkie.

“Promise me… _please._ ” She begged. He looked at her for a moment longer, that strange, wide-eyed expression still on his face before he finally reached forward and grabbed her hand, gently cupping it in his own.

“I’ll try my best.” Was all he said in response. It didn’t’ last long; and he quickly pulled his hand away. “You… should get goin’ soon here, May. Wouldn’t want either of us to be late, right?”

She didn’t say anything, instead choosing to pull him into a tight hug. He hugged her back too, and May could feel herself getting misty-eyed. This really was the end, wasn’t it? This was their final goodbye. The journey they had gone on for nearly two months now was finally at its end. She pulled away from him reluctantly.

“It’s been fun, scamp.” He said with a small smile. “Take care, all right?”

“Mmm-hmm!” She replied, nodding furiously. “You too!”

She stood there for a few moments; simply looking at him nervously before she finally- but hesitantly- turned around and headed inside, with one final wave of goodbye to Archie. When she got inside, she found it to be far too crowded for her liking. Frantic people were pushing and shoving and shouting no matter where she looked or tried to move. Yet somehow, in that mass of desperate people, she found some sort of resemblance of a line and stood in it. Up ahead she could vaguely see where people were being loaded into vehicles, but it was still quite a ways away, giving her plenty of time to herself.

She thought about everything that had happened up until this point. She thought about her parents, and how dearly she missed them. Somehow, it still hadn’t really hit that they were gone. She knew that there were; there was no point in deluding herself and thinking they weren’t, but it still seemed so foreign to her. Maybe it was because it had been so long since she had seen them, and the last thing she had said to them was goodbye, like she would on any normal day. It still seemed like any minute they’d return home just like normal. She felt at least a little bit better knowing that her mother hadn’t been alone all this time, but the fate of her father still left her feeling sick. She supposed, on the bright side, that at least they were together now.

She thought about Brendan and how he had never truly left her. She glanced at the bracelet still on her wrist. She knew what it was now, but she still had no idea how to use it. She was happy that Brendan had been able to travel with her this whole time, even though they couldn’t really talk. She wondered if there was anywhere she’d possibly be able to see him again? Maybe if she took the train all the way to Kanto and visited Lavender Town, but the Pokemon Tower had always given her the creeps. Brendan… after seeing him as a ghost, she really did come to terms with him being dead, but… she still couldn’t help but have mixed feelings about it. They had wanted to go on an adventure throughout Hoenn together, but not like this.

But most of all, she couldn’t get Archie out of her mind. Despite how awful the world had become since Groudon was revived, he had made this journey seem almost like… an adventure. This journey had been difficult and frightening, but having him with her had made it seem not as bad. He had helped cheer her up when she discovered what had happened to Brendan, and when her dad had died, she remembered how he had started a water balloon fight, just to get her to smile again. Even the other day he had kept her company until she had finished weeping over her lost mother. She began to wonder what this journey would have been like if she hadn’t met Archie, or if she had actually gone through with running away back at Mount Pyre. It would’ve have been a lot worse, that’s for sure. Actually, now that she thought about it…

She would’ve been dead.

She hadn’t been able to leave the house until Archie had managed to dig his way through. She wouldn’t have lived after falling from the Seaside Cycling Road if Archie hadn’t picked her up and carried her to Mauville. And now, she was beginning to wonder… what had she done for him? He had cheered her up when she was frightened and sad, and he had saved her life countless of times.

Wasn’t it about time she did the same for him?

She stuffed the ticket she was holding back into her pocket and rushed back through the crowd as quickly as she could. Now she realized what that expression on Archie’s face had been earlier. It was fear. He was terrified, wasn’t he? When he spoke, his voice had shaken like it did when he was carrying her to Mauville, and when he had hugged her, she could feel him shaking. He was absolutely terrified. And why wouldn’t he be? Who wouldn’t cower at the thought of facing a primal god all by themselves? It was no wonder he hadn’t gone through with her pinkie promise. He was expecting to die, wasn’t he?

She finally got out of the crowded harbor building, but Archie was nowhere to be found. Of course he was gone. Why would he sit outside waiting? Knowing him, he was probably on the move already. Or maybe he had found a place to watch and see her off? She began running north, towards where the stairs leading to the beach would be. It had been about twenty minutes; he couldn’t have gotten that far.

“May? May!” She heard Lisia calling after her as she ran. She wanted to keep going, but if anyone would know the exact whereabouts of anyone in this city, it’d be her. She stopped and waited for Lisia to catch up.

“Hey, Lisia.” She said in greeting.

“May… Archie told me…” She panted. “That you were heading back to Johto. Where are you going? Did you forget something?”

“I’m not going.” May said firmly.

“Eh? Why not?” Lisia asked. “That’s your home, right? Isn’t it safe there?”

“It is, but… Lisia, I’ve been thinking about what you said. About having a goal in this world. I had one for a while: to find my parents. That’s why I came all the way out here! But, they’re gone… that goal is over. Archie said that returning home is the best choice for me, but… I don’t wanna do that! I wanna help Hoenn, and I wanna help my friend! Lisia, do you know where he went?”

“Well…” She looked hesitant. “He’s already on his way to Sootopolis. I offered to show him a nice spot where he could’ve watched you leave, but… I don’t think he could bring himself to watch. He shouldn’t be too far off the coast, though.”

“Thank you, Lisia! I’ll see you soon!” She started running again, but before she could get too far, Lisia grabbed her wrist.

“Wait!” She exclaimed. “I’m not… going to stop you, but it’s going to be dangerous.”

“I know.”

“Do you… um, what pokemon do you have on your team?”

“Oh.” She hadn’t been expecting that question. “A gardevoir, a camerupt, and a swampert.”

“Thank goodness!” She reached into her bag, and pulled out a necklace with strange, marble-looking object hanging from the end of the chain. “Here, take this!”

“What’s this for?” May asked, examining it curiously. The pendant honestly looked like the marbles she used to play with when she was younger.

“It’s a mega stone. A swampertite, to be exact.”

“What’s it do?”

“Give this to your swampert. You can mega evolve it that way! Having a key stone will only get you part of the way there. With this, you can actually do it. My Uncle’s friend Steven gave me that. He wanted me to watch over them for now, but I think you need it more than I do.”

“Thank you, Lisia.” Placing it in her backpack.

“And May? Can I… ask you a favor?” May nodded. “When the two of you get to Sootopolis, can you look for my uncle, and his friend? He has the same color hair as me. And his friend… he likes to wear suits, and he has a shiny metagross that’s silver! I… know that’s not why you’re going, but… they’ve got to be out there still! They just have to be!”

“Lisia…” May smiled and took her friend’s hand. “I’ll do my best.” Lisia beamed and hugged May tightly. Or, as tightly as she could with one arm. “Thank you.” She whispered. “Thank you so, sooo much!”

“Of course, Lisia.” She giggled, finally pulling away. May turned and began to run again, with Lisia waving behind her.

“Good luck!” She shouted cheerfully, practically bouncing with excitement. “I’ll be rooting for you, May!!”

May ran as fast as she could into the foreboding desert that was once the ocean. Archie had actually gotten a fairly good distance away from the city, but she could still make out his form on the horizon. He was not alone, however. At some point he had pulled out his mightyena, and he was trotting along beside him. That was strange. During this entire journey, he had kept his pokemon in their pokeballs unless he had absolutely needed them; he was too worried about the air and the environment messing with their health to keep them by his side. May wondered why his mightyena was out now. Maybe he was feeling lonely?

The mightyena noticed her first and turned to get a good look at her. As soon as he noticed who was following them, his piercing glare relaxed, and he approached her, barking happily.

“Heya, Mightyena.” She said, petting his soft fur gently. “It’s nice to see you, too.”

“May?” Archie ran over to her, looking concerned. “What are you doin’ here? Did ya lose somethin’? I mean…” He glanced over to where the harbor building stood, still barely visible in the distance. “If we hurry, you can still make it! We should-”

“No, Archie.” May interrupted, folding her arms. “I’m coming with you.”

“What? No. Scamp, ya can’t do that. I appreciate it, but there’s nothin’ out there for ya! You could get hurt!”

“And what about you?”

“I can take care of myself. Here, I’ll walk ya back if that’ll help, but-”

“No, Archie.” May repeated. “I’ve made up my mind.”

“But… c’mon, don’t ya wanna go home?”

“I do, but there’s other things I wanna do first.” She explained. “You’ve been doing so much for me; I just wanna help you, too!”

“Aw, scamp, you don’t have to worry about that. You’re just a kid, so-”

“I wanna be more than that!” She snapped. “I don’t call you an adult, do I? No! You’re my friend! And I wanna be your friend, too! And don’t tell me it’s dangerous. I know that! What isn’t dangerous nowadays? But I’m good at battling, and I’ve made it this far. I know I can help, Archie!”

“Scamp…” He looked taken aback for a moment. “This isn’t your battle to fight, though. I mean, I technically started all of this. I should be the one to finish it.”

“But isn’t that exactly what Maxie did?”

“…What?”

“The other day, at Mount Pyre, you told me that Maxie went in against Groudon alone, even though you said not to. You’re about to do the same thing!” She gently grabbed ahold of his hand. “I know you’re scared. I’m scared, too. But if we go together, it’ll be a little less scary, I think.”

“May…” He looked hesitant still, so she put on the most determined glare she could muster. May wasn’t sure if it worked, because in a moment, Archie began to laugh. “Hey! I’m trying to be serious here!”

“I know, I know.” He stooped down and, much to her annoyance, ruffled her hair. “I guess I just can’t say no to a face like that.”

“Wait, really?” She exclaimed. “You’ll let me come along?”

“I can’t believe I’m sayin’ this, but yeah. But ya have to do as I say, okay? I don’t want ya gettin’ hurt!”

“Understood! Now let’s go! I wanna see the ocean again!”

“I know, I know. We’re goin’.” He returned Mightyena to his pokeball, and the two of them continued forward into the vast desert. May was still holding his hand and she couldn’t help but notice that it wasn’t shaking anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Lisia, and there is no way I was going to leave her out of this story. I actually do ship her with May, assuming that they're around the same age. (Thanks nintendo for never cannonly giving the named NPCs an age. Except for Steven, because knowing he's 25 is super relevant, apparently.)  
> Anyhoo, I had in mind that May's parents would be dead from the start. I hope it still came as somewhat of a surprise at least. Anyways, there's still more to come! As usual, your feedback and kudos-s and what not is always appreciated! Thanks for sticking around with me!


	8. Sootopolis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is going to be the longest chapter.  
> Uh. Body horror warning I guess????? Let me know if this warrants the graphic depictions of violence tag or not.

“There it is.” Archie said, pointing just a few yards ahead of them.

“There what is?” May asked, trailing behind just a little bit.

“Sootopolis.” He responded.

“Sootopolis?” May gasped. “That’s Sootopolis?” Before the two of them stood a gigantic, once-underwater cavern. Based on the coloration of the rocks, May could tell that the looming form before her was never completely submerged, even when the water levels were normal. “Is it inside of a mountain?”

“Nah. Looks like it though.” Archie explained, “A meteorite struck the earth thousands of years ago, and people started livin’ in the crater it made. That’s Sootopolis.”

“Whoa…”

“Well don’t marvel at it out here! C’mon, let’s see what it looks like inside.”

May and Archie had been traveling through the vast desert for what felt like ages. All things considered, it wasn’t as treacherous as most of the mainland. There were no buildings to crumble or bridges to destroy in the ocean. However, what it lacked in dangerous debris it made up for in strange structure. As they grew closer to Sootopolis, the ground sank deeper into the earth, creating strange ledges, deep trenches, and twisting caverns. It was like navigating through a twisty, sandy maze. May thought it would’ve been fun to play hide-and-seek in if the stakes- and the temperature- weren’t so high.

It could be a bit frightening at night. As soon as night fell it was complete and utter blackness in every direction. May couldn’t even see her hand in front of her face as soon as the sunset. She was thankful that Tabitha had lent her his camerupt. With the lava constantly bubbling in the craters on his back and his ability to start a campfire, May and Archie could at least see a little bit while they camped out during the night. Archie still complained about it, however, saying that water was still the best pokemon type. For some reason, Archie and the camerupt didn’t seem to get along. At least it was funny for her to watch.

The dried up ocean was lonely, however. It took May and Archie nearly a week to reach this point and along the way, there had been nothing: no pokemon, no people, just sand dirt and heat that the two of them had to power through. May was relieved that she had convinced Archie to let her come with. He was pretty tough and she knew it, but she had no idea how he would fare alone in the desert with no one but himself for days. It’d be maddening, even for someone like him.

Inside the cave, the dirt floor was still slightly damp. It was a wide cavern with the sun filtering through from a hole in the ceiling. She could make out a ledge a couple yards above her. Clearly, she’d have to climb.

“Is this the only way inside Sootopolis?” May asked.

“Unfortunately. That, or flyin’ in. But with all the ash in the air and only a crobat between the two of us, this is our only option.” They climbed the rock wall up into Sootopolis where May found… more of the same, really. Before her was a wide expanse of dried up land; clearly once a pool or lake of some sort. But once she looked up at the city, it took her breath away. Sootopolis, she realized, was probably once gorgeous. The inside of the crater made for a very unique landscape to set houses upon. Buildings were placed upon various levels of the rocky land, with thin staircases twisting their way around the entire city. However, nearly all the buildings were knocked over or completely demolished. A lot of the crater had been destroyed, too. The walls of rock were cracked in places, and in the northeast side there had been a landslide. She saw a few buildings she recognized in the rubble: the red and blue roofs of the pokemon center and pokemart respectively, and in the center of the weird pool lay the broken remains of the gym. Of all the cities she had been through, Sootopolis had certainly suffered the most damage.

“Yikes.” May said, taking it all in.

“Yikes is right. I’m startin’ to wonder how I even survived this.” Before they could talk anymore, the ground beneath them shook violently. Out of instinct, the two of them held on to one another, but luckily, it only lasted for an instant.

“What was that?” May asked, cautiously letting go of Archie’s arm.

“I dunno.” Archie replied. “We’re really close to Groudon, so I think it’s probably makin’ the city unstable.”

“Well, where is it?” May asked. “Shouldn’t it be rampaging around like Gozilla or something?”

“If only.” Archie laughed. “For all I know. It’s still hidden away in the Cave of Origin. That’s the funny thing about demigods; they don’t even have to move to cause all sorts of destruction.”

“Where’s the Cave of Wonder?”

“Origin, May. It’s in the center of the city. I’ll show ya.”

Archie and May climbed up onto the mainland on the western side. It proved to be the slightest bit hard to navigate through, what with all the overturned buildings and cracks in the white rock. May even noticed several black stains on the otherwise white surface. As she had traveled through Hoenn, she saw those stains less and less, especially in cities and towns. People wanted to move on and keep things clean; removing the unsightly reminder of those they had lost was an obvious decision. And the fact that Sootopolis was in such a state of decay truly proved that no one was still residing here. It was creepy, to say the least.

“Watch out up here.” Archie warned as they climbed yet another flight of stairs. “Looks like a bit of a mess.”

“What kind of city makes you walk around the entire map before reaching the center?” May replied, exasperated.

“Don’t ask me, kiddo.” He laughed. “Ask the weirdos who made it three thousand years ago.”

At the top of the landing was yet another demolished building. The large structure had fallen down while somehow remaining mostly intact; but the windows had shattered, leaving glass all over the ground. However, that was not what caught May’s eye. Below the overturned building was that sickly, brownish-red color that she had seen in her dad’s gym, all the way back in Petalberg. Fearfully, she grabbed Archie’s sleeve.

“Archie…” She whispered, pointing at the mess. “Look-”

“Shh. Be quiet, May.” He was looking at something else entirely. Curiously, she looked where he was staring. Against the opposing rock ledge beside another flight of stairs was a silver, rock like creature with a golden “X” across its face. It took a minute for May to notice it. With its silver body, it blended in quite well with the rock behind it.

“Archie…” May whispered. “What is that? That’s a pokemon, right?”

“It’s a metagross.” He replied. “And it doesn’t look to happy to see us.”

“A metagross?” May had never seen one before. She had no idea what it would look like, but based on its name, she figured it’d look far more disgusting than it did. “Wait, Lisia mentioned that her uncle’s friend had a metagross! Maybe he’s nearby? She wanted me to look for them!”

“They’re here? What’s their names?”

“Um… her uncle’s named Wallace, he’s the water-type gym leader! I don’t know the name of his friend though.”

“I thought that kid looked familiar.” Archie said. “Then his friend must be Steven Stone, the champion.”

“The champion of Hoenn? Really?” Now that she thought about it, she remembered Archie, Tabitha and Shelly talking about him and Wallace back in Mauville City, and how they had yet to return. “He must be nearby, then!”

“Wait, May, be careful!” She approached the metagross eagerly, but when she drew close, it finally opened its eyes and glared at her. Clearly seeing her as a threat, it roared at her and attempted to stand; however, it did not get very far, and its shaky legs forced it down once again.

“Archie, it doesn’t look too good.” May said. Now that she was up close, she noticed that its silver, metallic skin looked rather dull and scuffed up, and its whole body seemed to be trembling. Despite its attempt to look fearsome, it was far too weak to do much, and they both knew it. “It looks hurt.” She reached her hand out gently and stroked its metallic skin. While Metagross was still wary it accepted her touch and began to relax. “Where’s your trainer, Metagross?” May asked. Metagross made no effort to move, instead simply looking down. She followed its gaze down below, where she noticed something shiny poking out from the dirt. She knelt down to pick it up, but the metagross growled at her again, so she stopped.

“What is it?” Archie asked, approaching the pokemon as well. He knelt down and got a look at the ground beneath its legs. It was only then that he noticed that the dirt beneath him was rather loose in comparison to the rest of the path and formed a mound beneath it. Poking out of the dirt was a shiny keystone, attached to what looked like a silver pin. “…Oh.”

“What?”

“I think that’s the champion’s keystone.” Archie said.

“It is? Then… where is he?” She paused, seeming to notice the mound of dirt beneath the metagross. “Oh. Do you think he’s…?”

“Yeah.” Archie said. He wasn’t looking at the dirt anymore. Instead, he was looking at the collapsed building that lay just a few yards away from them. Even from here, they could see the dried blood beneath the broken remains.

“Oh no…!” May gasped. “Do you think Wallace, uh…” Even now, she couldn’t bring herself to say “die”, even when it had happened to so many.

“Can’t say for sure.” Archie muttered. “But someone had to have buried the champ. And somethin’ tells me it wasn’t metagross.”

“Then why is it still here? Archie, we need to help it!” She grabbed ahold of metagross’ leg, but it was far too heavy for her to move.

“Leave it be, scamp.” Archie said sternly.

“But why? Archie, it’s dying!”

“I think it wants to stay here, with its trainer. Metagross is a very powerful pokemon. If it wanted to leave, it would have by now.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Some pokemon have such a deep bond with their trainers that they’ll stay with them even in death. The same thing happened with my grandpa and his ludicolo.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Poor thing wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t play with any of the other pokemon. She would just sit in his old office until she passed on, too. If there’s one thing I learned from any of it, it’s that ya can’t change a pokemon’s mind.”

“Well…” May knew she should be going. The two of them did not cross the entirety of Hoenn and the ocean to stop for a tired metagross, but she couldn’t help but pity the pokemon still glaring at her. She pulled out a potion from her bag and healed metagross with it. It wasn’t enough to heal it fully, but seeing it suffer so broke her heart. “Um… just in case you change your mind…” The metagross still made no effort in moving, but it still looked grateful. It bowed its head and shut its eyes, drifting off into sleep. She stared at it for a while longer until she felt Archie’s hand rest on her shoulder.

“We should go.” She simply nodded, and the two of them left the champion’s metagross to its own devices.

It didn’t take them too long before they reached the Cave of Origin. The cave was against the northern most wall of Sootopolis, just across a small clearing. The clearing was home to a once beautiful gigantic tree. Its trunk was charred and dyed a deep black, but despite that, it was still standing. It had been quite some time since she had seen a tree that was still upright. She hoped she’d be able to see trees again sometime soon.

“We have to be prepared for anything, okay, May?” Archie said, heading towards the cave entrance.

“I know.” The pair had been quiet since leaving Metagross behind. In fact, Archie had been strangely quiet ever since they arrived in Sootopolis. Even out in the dried ocean he had joked around with her. She didn’t try to start a conversation either, however. She could feel the tension in the air and decided against it. He was probably scared, and she couldn’t deny that she was, too. What lay before them was the current home of the monster who had ended the lives of thousands in an instant. Sure, they were determined, but how far could determination get them when going against a literal god?

“Doesn’t look like anyone’s been here since it started.” Archie said, investigating the entrance to the cave.

“How can you tell?” May asked.

“Thing’s still sealed up tight.” Archie replied, struggling to open in it. “That idiot Maxie made sure to barricade himself inside. He wasn’t plannin’ on lettin’ anyone interfere.”

“I think I’ve got it.” May released swampert and pointed towards the door. “Swampert! Use hammer arm!” Swamper immediately obeyed, pounding the door into rubble. As soon as he was done, he looked back at May expectantly, clearly waiting for some sort of praise. “Good job, Swampert!” She exclaimed, standing on her tiptoes to pet him. “Oh, right! Since you’re out, I have a gift for you!” She pulled the mega stone pendant out of her backpack and slipped it around swampert’s neck. “There you go! It looks super pretty!”

“Whoa, May, where did ya get that?” Archie asked.

“Lisia gave it to me as a parting gift in Lilycove. She said we could use it.” She paused. “Archie, have you ever done mega evolution before? I have no idea how it works.”

“Yeah, I have.” He reached into his backpack and pulled out a large, golden necklace with an anchor at the end. Embedded in the middle of an anchor was a rainbow key stone, just like hers. “My sharpedo can mega evolve.”

“Why haven’t you had that out the whole time?”

“It’s heavy and it gets in the way. It was fun to wear when the world was easy to nagivate in. I guess I should keep it on now, though.”

“It looks nice on you.” May said after he put it on around his neck. “It really makes you look like a pirate!”

”That is what I was goin’ for.” He laughed. “Maxie always gave me shit- I mean, he always made fun of me for it. He had one in his glasses! At least mine looks kinda intimidating.”

The two of them finally headed into the Cave of Origin and much to May’s surprise it was a long tunnel. She had figured that as soon as she opened the door Groudon would just be sitting inside, ready to kill her. Clearly, they’d have to walk to it. The tunnel was void of any signs of life; from what she could see, there wasn’t even any sign of death either. In most places she could still find the charcoal patches that were once people and pokemon, but the cave was nothing but thick rock everywhere she looked. She supposed she could understand why. The closer and closer they got to the center, the more scorched and destroyed everything had become. Anything in this cave was likely vaporized. She figured Archie knew too, because he quickly became quiet again, the jovial mood he had been in moments before clearly gone. He marched forward, a determined glare on his face. May wanted to lighten the mood with conversation, but wasn’t sure where to start. Besides, she was sure she must have been like this when they had first entered Lilycove City and her father’s gym in Petalburg.

“Um, Archie?” She finally asked. “You never explained how you do mega evolution.”

“Mega evolution is… weird, I guess.” He replied, not taking his eyes off the path in front of him. “If ya have a strong enough friendship, you can do it. The mega stone and key stone start sparklin’ and ya just… I dunno… it kinda just happens. Ya make it mega evolve just like you’d make it use a move. Uh… I swear, it’ll come natural to ya when you’re in battle.”

As they traveled deeper through the cave, May found it hard to come up with things to say, too. A feeling of dread washed over her as she traveled farther into the humid, dark cave. As they got further in, the air became hotter and thicker, and a loud, thunderous noise shook the entire cavern periodically. At first, she had thought it was earthquakes. And maybe it was; but the sound reminded her of something snoring more than anything else. She wondered if maybe Groudon was asleep as it awaited them? That brought little comfort still. The tremors were loud and frightening; if a creature could cause this much shaking while asleep, who knew what it’d do while it was awake? She crept closer to Archie and grabbed his hand. He squeezed it in response, and the two of them continued onwards.

“I think…” May said, her voice shaky, “I think it’s in the next room.”

They had traveled far enough into the cave where the air had become foggy and smelled of smoke. As they had gone farther, the scenery had begun to change as well. The rock walls surrounding them were no longer brown and grey like they had been near the start of the cave, but had progressively become redder and redder. In the dim light, they almost seemed to glow. There was one more entrance before them, and even in the low light May could tell that the path continued forwards instead of downwards. They had truly reached the end of the line.

“I know, May.” Archie responded. He shot her a worried glanced when he noticed how frightened she looked. “Look, if ya wanna head back-”

“No.” She shook her head. “I made up my mind when I left Lilycove. I’m going in, too.”

“I can’t guarantee anything. But I’ll try to keep ya safe.”

“Me too.”

The two of them entered the next room hand in hand, and May was immediately taken aback by what was in there. Before her was a large clearing of bright red rock, which was surrounded by a thick, likely deep pool of boiling lava. Large, glowing red crystals hung from the ceiling and seemed to be radiating a faint light. And all around her, the room seemed to be buzzing with constant sound; the boiling of the lava and the rather electrical sound the glowing stones were giving off.

However, despite the cavern’s unnatural appearance, the room was rather empty. She had expected to see a monster towering over her, ready to dig its claws into her and Archie at the sight of them. But there was no such thing. However, in the center of clearing sat… a human.

Sort of.

“Holy shit.” Archie gasped. And May couldn’t even fault him for swearing.

In the center of the clearing sat a man with long, unkempt red hair. He was wearing a dirty red coat with an “M” symbol on the collar, but even with the clothing she could see that the person before her was emaciated. The left sleeve was torn up, showing some pale skin underneath it. Bright yellow lines ran their way up his arm, and matching lines criss-crossed his face until ultimately forming a bright circle on his forehead. May would have assumed that they were just strange tattoos if it weren’t for the fact that they were glowing, and it looked as it lava was pumping its way through them. That wasn’t the only inhuman thing about the man before her, however. She noticed that strange horns had sprouted their way out of his back, and his fingernails were long and thick, resembling claws more than human hands. Even from here, May could tell that they were all completely unnatural; she could even see the dried blood from where the claws had forced their way out of his skin. As they approached, its eyes shot open; they were black where they were supposed to be white, and the irises themselves were a brilliant gold. The creature seemed to be drooling lava, and when it opened its mouth, May could see a row of sharp fangs. There was no other way to describe what lay before her than…

“Monster…” May whispered fearfully, squeezing Archie’s hand tighter.

“Maxie…!” Archie gasped.

“Maxie?!” May repeated. “That’s Maxie?!”

“We have to help him!” Archie let go of May’s hand and began running towards the creature.

_Go away._

A loud voice rung through the cavern. It was enough to get even Archie to stop in his place. May looked around frantically for the source of the voice, but couldn’t seem to find it. It had to have been Maxie, but she hadn’t seen his mouth move. How was that possible? She had heard some stories about legendairies being able to speak through telepathy… maybe that was the case here?

“Don’t be stubborn now, Maxie!” Archie shouted in response, seeming to recognize the voice. “I didn’t travel all the way across the damn country to just leave when I finally find ya!” He continued forward, and extended his hand out for Maxie. “C’mon! We-”

He was cut off when the creature lunged at him, swiping at him with his long claws. Archie cried out in pain and stumbled backwards, gripping his bleeding arm.

“Archie, are you okay?!” May cried, running to his side.

“I’m fine, scamp.” He said with a grimace.

“Wh-what’s happening?! I don’t get it! Where’s Groudon? Is that _thing_ really Maxie?!”

“Don’t call him that.” Archie snapped. “And yeah, that’s Maxie. Once awakened, Groudon and Kyogre both have the power to possess humans through the orb.”

“Is there any way to separate them?” May asked.

“I… I don’t know, but we gotta try! A part of him still has to be in there!”

_I said, go away!!_

Archie ignored it and approached the creature once again, just slower this time. May followed suit just a little bit behind him.

_…Please. I don’t wish to cause anymore harm, Archie._

“…What?” That got Archie to stop. “Maxie?”

“Did it… did he just say your name?”

“Do ya recognize me? Maxie, can ya hear me?”

_Of course I can, Archie. Hearing and speaking is about all I can do anymore._

“W-well, don’t ya worry! We’re gonna get ya out of here, okay? We just-”

_Just go, Archie. There’s no helping here._

“Don’t be so stubborn, Maxie! Just… look at ya! Ya need our help!”

_I don’t need anything! Just leave me alone! I did this to myself; can’t you see that?_

“What are you talking about?” Archie asked.

_I let myself become like this. I couldn’t defeat Groudon with my pokemon alone, so this is the best I could do._

“What? Why the hell would ya-”

_Think about it, Archie! My body is weak and pathetic; what could Groudon possibly do while possessing it? I can’t leave, but neither can it. So just go, both of you. Keep yourself and this child safe. It’s hard enough keeping Groudon at bay._

“But, Maxie…” Even Archie’s resolve was beginning to diminish. “Look, I get what you’re sayin’, but… how much longer can ya keep this up? Look at ya! You’re even thinner than ya were last time I saw ya! If nothing changes… you’re gonna die, Maxie! Don’t ya realize that?”

_Who cares if I die?!_

“I do!” Archie cried. “I love you, you idiot! And I don’t know whether or not that means anything to ya but there are lots of people out there who care about ya! Besides, if you go, we all go. If you die and there’s no one here to fight it… it’s over. So please, let us fight Groudon! We can put all of this behind us!”

_You… you can’t be serious. I beat you numerous of times yet I didn’t stand a chance against Groudon. What makes you think you can win?_

“Because I’ve got water type pokemon, I’ve got the blue orb, and most importantly… I’ve got her.” He gestured to May, who was standing nervously behind him.

_Are you kidding me? She’s just a child! Why did you even bring her here? It’s not safe!_

“She’s not just a child!” Archie snapped. “May has been through more these past two months than most people go through in their entire lives! She’s a tough trainer, and an even tougher person. If it was just me fightin’ Groudon, then I woulda agreed with ya. But I think together we can definitely win!”

“Please, Maxie, listen to us!” May joined in. “It’s really scary out there. A lot of people didn’t make it. But the way things are going, they’re not going to get any better. I wanna help people. And I’m sure you do, too. Archie told me so.” She stepped closer to the possessed Maxie, even closer than Archie was at the moment. He still terrified her, but the closer she looked, the more she pitied him. “You scare me, but I don’t think you’re evil. It looks like you’re hurting really bad.” She reached her hand out cautiously, placing it gently on Maxie’s messy hair. Much to her surprise, he didn’t lash out at her or try to attack, but she was still on guard; she could feel the body beneath her trembling. “I wanna help people, and that means you, too. Let me help. I really, really wanna go home.”

There was silence for a moment before the voice returned once more, this time sounding far weaker than before.

_How pathetic have I become to need help from a mere child?_

The ground began to rumble and May backed away until she was side by side with Archie once again.

_All right, it seems I have little choice. I will put my faith in you two. I will let Groudon go._

The ground began to shake more violently, and May grabbed on to Archie’s good arm for support.

_Archie, you will only have moments to activate the blue orb. Be careful._

Archie pulled out the blue orb from his bag and held it out. Immediately, the normally dull light of the orb was gone, replaced by a dazzling glow. Archie nervously held it up. A brilliant blue light shot out of it, bathing the whole cavern in a deep blue. It was blinding. May was forced to close her eyes from it, and clung to Archie tightly. She felt him hold onto her as well as the cavern continued to shake ever more violently. May felt like the cave was going to crack open and swallow her whole, but she remained where she was. The two of them had simply come to far now to even dream of turning back.

_Please stay safe._

A loud scream pierced through the cavern, even louder than the rumbling of the walls around them. May let go of Archie and covered her ears, but it did little to ebb off the noise. It grew louder and more primal in nature, sounding less like a human’s scream and more like a beast’s roar.

Finally, the cavern stopped shaking. The crying of the beast had quieted, too, but its breaths were still heavy and loud. May finally cracked her eyes open and gasped at the sight before her.

Standing in the lava just a few feet away from the edge of the clearing, was Groudon. May had never seen it before and had no idea what to expect, but it certainly wasn’t this. She had figured it’d look like a typical dragon with scales and wings and such. But Groudon looked different; it towered over her significantly, its skin red and shiny as if it were wearing a crimson suit of armor. It had sharp claws in each of its limbs and large horns that protruded out of its neck, sides and tail. It looked down upon her and Archie in what looked like a glare and roared once more.

“That’s… Groudon?” May gasped.

“Sure is.” Archie replied solemnly. “It’s bigger than I remember it.” He seemed frightened once again, but once he noticed Maxie’s collapsed body on the ground, a few yards away from Groudon, his resolve returned. “Are you ready?”

“Yes.” Mentally, she wasn’t. She was absolutely terrified. But she had trained her pokemon well. Archie believed in her. Maxie believed in her, too. Wally, Tabitha and Shelly, Lisia, her mom and dad… even Brendan… she was sure they were all rooting for her. And she wasn’t about to let them down. “I’m ready.”

May sent out her swampert, and Archie his sharpedo. Immediately Archie mega evolved it. A brilliant, colorful glow emitted out of Archie’s necklace and the sharpedo’s megastone before the sharpedo was wrapped in a ball of light. The ball finally broke and the sharpedo let out a mighty roar. It still resembled sharpedo, but it had grown much larger, had more fangs, its body was now covered in yellow stripes, and large horns had grown its sides.

“Whoa…” May gasped, marveling at it.

“Never seen a mega evolution before, have ya kiddo?” Archie smirked. “Wait ‘til ya see what he can do. Sharpedo!! Use poison fang and weaken it!” Sharpedo launched himself forward, faster than May had ever seen a normal pokemon go, and sunk its fangs into Groudon’s arms. He tore at its flesh violently; creating fresh scars in the legendary’s skin. Groudon roared in pain and clawed at sharpedo before finally shaking him off, and sending him flying back towards Archie.

“Sharpedo, you okay?!” Archie shouted, kneeling down beside him. He looked a little banged up, but slowly got back up and roared triumphantly, clearly ready to get back in the fray. “That’s what I like to see.”

“A-alright! My turn!” May held out her arm and pressed a finger down on her key stone. “Swampert! Mega evolve! …Please!”

But nothing happened. Neither her stone nor the one on swampert’s neck reacted.

“What? Hey, c’mon!!” She shook the bracelet, but still, nothing happened.

“Don’t worry about it, scamp.” Archie said. She looked up, noticing Archie had already sent his sharpedo in for another attack. “Just battle like ya usually do. It still helps.”

“Okay!!” She nodded. “Swampert! Use surf!”

Swampert shot a large stream of water at Groudon, but before it hit the beast, the water evaporated into thin air. Luckily for her it was still occupied with Archie’s sharpedo, who had already started attacking once again.

“Wha- What happened?” May asked.

“When it’s in its primal form like this, water won’t do anything.” Archie explained. “The orb helped, but we gotta weaken it a little more before we can even try water.”

“Right, okay, Swampert! Use mud bomb!” May shouted. Her swampert complied and the groudon recoiled at his attack. The creature roared in anger, and in moments the ground was shaking violently again. May screamed and held on to Archie, but her swampert and Archie’s sharpedo remained resilient and unharmed, other than a few scratches.

“We just gotta keep goin’.” Archie said. “We can do this, May! Sharpedo, poison fang!”

“Swampert, use hammer arm!”

The battle raged on for quite some time. It was easily the most difficult battle May had ever gone through. No matter how many times she and Archie attacked, it just seemed like they weren’t doing anything. And if they were, Groudon certainly wasn’t showing it. Nor were its attacks letting up. It continued sending powerful quakes through the cave, causing new cracks to form on the walls, and there were moments that May worried it would completely destroy the clearing she and Archie were standing on. That wasn’t the only attack it used, however. Sometimes, it would spew flames at them; it aimed for their pokemon, of course, but May could still feel the overwhelming heat from where she stood. Despite it all, their pokemon remained resilient. She was now thankful that Archie had looted that store all the way back in Oldale for healing items. That, and Groudon was only using fire and ground type moves, and though a lot of her father’s lessons about type advantages had gone over her head, she remembered that water was good against both of those. She supposed Archie was right about water type being the best type. And she was thankful that Groudon wasn’t a grass type.

However, type advantage or not, Groudon was still very powerful, especially in this primal state. It focused most of its attacks on Archie’s sharpedo; after all, her swampert could attack from farther away while Sharpedo needed to get up close. May could tell that Archie’s sharpedo was beginning to grow weak.

“Sharpedo, crunch once more! You can do it!” Archie shouted.

“Swampert, follow it with another mud bomb!” Their pokemon did as told, and attacked Groudon relentlessly. It growled in pain again and, with one fell swipe, sent Archie’s sharpedo flying to the ground. His eyes were shut and there were new gashes on its side. He wasn’t going to get back up from this one.

“Sharpedo!” He shouted. He ran towards his pokemon and knelt down beside it. “Buddy, no, you’re gonna be okay, you’re…” Archie began fretting over his pokemon, his back facing Groudon. Archie couldn’t see it, but while he was worrying over Sharpedo, Groudon took a deep breath, clearly getting ready to attack once more.

“Archie, watch out!”

Groudon unleashed another earthquake yet again. They had grown more and more violent as the battle progressed, and this one was violent enough to send some of the stalactites in the cave to come crashing down. May screamed, but her swampert was sure to come and protect her, shielding her with his body. It took awhile for the quake to end, but once it did, she cracked an eye open to observe the destruction around her. All things considered, it could’ve been worse; she and her swampert were relatively unharmed, and from here she noticed that Maxie had missed the damage. However…

“Archie!!” She shouted, rushing over to him desperately. A rock must’ve fallen on him, and his head was bleeding. She was relieved to find that he was still breathing, and it wasn’t enough to kill him, but he had been knocked unconscious. She shook him gently, but nothing happened. “Come on…!”

She turned around and saw Groudon getting ready to attack once more. Its wasn’t even looking at her swampert. Instead, its eyes were focused on Archie and his sharpedo, laying just a few feet away. It seemed injuring and knocking Sharpedo unconscious wasn’t enough. It wanted him dead, not caring if his trainer was in the line of fire.

“Archie, wake up!!” May screamed. But nothing happened. She began to hyperventilate; after all, she had seen this before. Back in Littleroot, she had been right beside Brendan moments before he had died. And now the same thing was happening here. Archie was next to her right now, but she couldn’t do anything. He wasn’t waking up. He was too heavy for her to move. “Come on…! Come on, not again!!” She couldn’t let him die. Brendan was enough. Her parents were enough. All of the people that had died already were enough.

As she was shaking him, she noticed a strange light coming from her wrist. She paused, realizing the glow was coming from her mega evolution bracelet.

“Huh?” She looked up, and noticed that the mega stone around Swampert’s neck was glowing as well. “No way…!” She quickly held out her arm towards Swampert once again, and pressed down on the key stone like it was a button. “Swampert! Mega evolve!”

Suddenly, Swampert was wrapped in a brilliant, rainbow light. Once the orb of light dispersed, her swampert looked back at her proudly. He had grown nearly twice his size now in both height and muscle, and its fins and gills had also grown in size.

“Swampert…!” But May didn’t have much time to be proud. “Swampert, quickly, use mud bomb once more!” Swampert did as told and attacked Groudon, causing it to recoil much more than it had previously. May watched her swampert in amazement; he moved much faster than he had before, and he seemed to hit much harder. Who knew how cool mega evolution could be? Groudon had already been weakened substantially by Archie’s mega sharpedo, but with her mega swampert joining in, it seemed to be taking damage much quicker than it had before. She noticed after a few well-placed attacks, its attacks and movements became sluggish and rash, the glowing yellow lines that crisscrossed its body faded to a dull black and it seemed to shrink down, and the heat in the room subsided greatly. She recalled Archie telling her that when Groudon was in its primal form, water couldn’t attack it. Was this what it looked like when it wasn’t in primal? Could she hit it with water now? She certainly hoped so, because despite his evolution, her swampert was beginning to look rather battered, and Archie still hadn’t woken up yet. She needed to at least try.

“Swampert!” She exclaimed, after he had landed beside her from his last attack. “This is our chance. Hydro pump with everything you got, okay?” Swampert nodded, and blasted Groudon with a thick stream of water. It roared in agony, but Swampert didn’t let up, continuing to pound Groudon with water. When swampert finally let up, Groudon gazed back at them, looking utterly exhausted. It didn’t roar again, instead slumping down. Was this it? Had they really won? She figured Groudon was going to collapse, like most pokemon did when they fainted, but instead she noticed its skin was beginning to turn a dull gray, as if it were being turned to stone. She watched in awe as its entire body turned gray and rigid, and the creature ceased to move, and all became quiet. She and her swampert stood there for a moment in silence, cautiously eyeing Groudon for any signs of movement, but nothing happened.

“Did we…do it?” She asked. She looked at her swampert for answers, but he looked just as puzzled as her. If anyone was going to know, it’d be… “Archie!” In the heat of the battle, she had almost forgotten about him. She rushed over to his side again and Swampert joined her. She shook him again, and this time he stirred, and slowly opened his eyes.

“May…?” He groaned. He sat up slowly, and clutched his aching head. He looked as if he was going to say something more, but changed his mind when he caught a glimpse of the now gray, unmoving Groudon. “Holy shit.”

“Did we kill it?” May asked nervously.

“No. No, ya didn’t. Ya can’t kill a god, but…” He grinned. “It can be put to sleep.”

“So… it’s over?” She felt herself smile, too. “It’s finally over?”

“Ya did it, scamp!” Archie hopped up onto his feet and pulled May into his arms and spun her around out of sheer excitement. He was laughing and she began to laugh, too. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt this light hearted, this jovial; it was nice. It was so refreshing to hear good news for a change and feel doubtlessly hopeful.

He finally put her down, and gazed over at the frozen figure of Groudon in amazement.

“Are you sure it’s over?” She asked.

“Pretty sure.” He strolled over to the creature, and picked up the now cracked red orb that lay at its feet. He put it in his bag, careful to not hold on to it for too long. “As long as it doesn’t have the red orb, it shouldn’t wake up again. This is what it looked like before Maxie woke it up.” He paused. “…Wait, Maxie!” He ran over to where Maxie was still laying. In his elated mood, he had almost forgotten what he had come here for in the first place. “Maxie, Maxie, can ya hear me?!” He knelt down beside Maxie and held him in his arms, but the former magma leader didn’t stir. He looked more human than he had before, but he certainly did not look good. There were now gashes and holes in his skin from where the horns and claws had once been, and though the glowing yellow lines in his skin were gone, the lines now looked more like burn scars permanently embedded in his flesh.

“Is he…?” May began, looking down at him nervously.

“He’s…” Archie had his hand on Maxie’s chest, and sighed when he felt it move. “He’s alive… thank Arceus, he’s alive…!”

“He looks pretty bad…” May said. “What should we do?”

“We should find a place for him to rest, I can help him there.” Archie lifted Maxie in his arms, careful not to irritate any of his wounds. “Besides, we could all use some place to rest tonight.”

“That’s for sure.” May agreed. The two of them walked away from the now petrified Groudon towards the cave’s exit. Before they left the cavern, May glanced back at the terrifying beast once more; despite Archie’s reassurance, she was still a little wary.

“Hey.” Archie said.

“Ah! Yes?” That startled her, and she looked back at him nervously. “What?”

“Ya did good, kid. Don’t be so worried.” He paused. “And I never did congratulate ya on your first mega evolution.”

“Oh.” Swampert was trailing just a few feet behind her after all. She pulled out his pokeball and returned him; after all of that, he deserved a good rest. “Thanks.”

They walked back through the cave in silence; the only noise was Maxie’s labored breathing as he slept in Archie’s arms. They were utterly exhausted, and May couldn’t think of anything to say to Archie. So much had just happened… it was hard to think of any conversation topics. They had just taken down a literal god, and while that had been their intent from the start, she certainly hadn’t believed that she’d be actually be able to do it, and she had a nagging feeling that Archie had felt the same. But… it was over. Just like that.

“You’re a natural at this.” He finally said.

“At what? Fighting gods?”

“Well… yeah,” he chuckled, “but I meant battling. You’re really good, May.”

“You think so?”

“I know so! Now way in hel… I mean, no way I coulda done that when I was your age! I think ya could easily take on the gym leaders in Hoenn!”

“I always wanted to try that.”

“We should! Whaddaya say, May? How about when things get settled, the two of us travel across Hoenn the way it was supposed to go? I think I wouldn’t mind tryin’ my hand against the gym leaders again.”

May hesitated. This was the second time someone had asked her this, only Brendan had been even more ambitious when he had asked, claiming that the two of them would fight against the elite four and the champion as well. She had said yes to that, and why wouldn’t she? She had no reason to believe that anything was going to get in the way of that promise. After all of this had begun, she started to resent promises. After all, so many had been broken in such a short period of time. Still… she had just taken down a god. And things… would go back to normal after that, wouldn’t they? She rubbed Brendan’s mega evolution bracelet hesitantly. How much could it really hurt… to try and promise once more?

Just as she was about to answer, she found herself distracted by a faint but clear noise coming from just above her. It sounded like when she was bored in class, and would tap her fingers against the surface of her desk while she watched the minutes tick by. Only it was far louder than that, and seemed to run down the expanse of the cave’s roof.

“No way…!” May ran ahead towards the cave’s entrance and stepped outside into the pouring rain. The heavy clouds above Hoenn had not cleared but finally, after all this time, they had begun to pour rain down all over the region. Torrential rain came down as far as she could see in every direction. It had cooled down substantially, too, and the rain was finally moving the ash in the air around with it. “It’s raining!” She exclaimed, turning back to Archie who was still quite a bit behind her. “Archie, it’s raining! It’s really raining!!”

She tugged on his sleeve eagerly, but he kept his pace slow; too exhausted and too cautious for Maxie to go any quicker. He finally made his way outside and stood beside May, simply staring up at the pouring sky. Much to her surprise, he didn’t leap for joy or start shouting like he usually did when he was excited. Instead, he just stood there, letting the rain hit his face. It honestly looked like he was going to cry, and with the rain hitting his face, it made it impossible to tell if he was or not.

“Do you not like the rain?” She asked nervously.

“I love it.” He replied. He finally turned to look at her, and May swore she could see his one good eye tearing up. “The ocean’s finally comin’ back.”

* * *

 

The two of them searched for a place to stay for the night and, miraculously, they found a home that wasn’t too destroyed. Some falling rocks from the side of Sootopolis had created a large hole in the kitchen wall, and some of the windows were shattered, but otherwise the building was mostly intact. As expected, there was no one inside, and they were quick to make themselves at home. May still felt a little uncomfortable doing that, but soon enough, she figured, she wouldn’t have to ever do that again. There was a fireplace in the living room so, with camerupt’s help, she started it up, and all but collapsed into the dusty couch cushions. Archie brought Maxie to the bedroom and had started work on some of Maxie’s wounds. She had offered to help, but Archie had refused to let her in, claiming someone her age didn’t need to see something like that. She argued that she had just defeated a literal god, to which Archie responded by shutting the door on her. She figured it was fine. She hadn’t felt this exhausted since she had woken up with an injury in Mauville. It still stung, too; and all the excitement with Groudon certainly hadn’t helped. All she could bring herself to do now was collapse on the couch and have a long, well-deserved nap.

When she had awoken, the rain hadn’t let up. It was still coming down, as hard as ever on the fragile roof. Her stomach had awoken her, and it grumbled in need. She hadn’t eaten anything since that morning, and food hadn’t seemed all that important with all the other events of the day. She pulled out some food from her bag and was going to eat, but decided to go and fetch Archie first. They tried to eat together whenever they could, after all. She strolled down the hall to the bedroom, and found the door still closed, but unlocked. She pushed on it slowly, and entered the room. Maxie was fast asleep in the bed, propped up by a few pillows, and Archie sat in a chair beside the bed. He was holding Maxie’s hand while the other slept away.

Despite Archie’s best efforts, Maxie still looked awful. He had bandaged up his hands and sides where the claws and horns had once been, but May could still see some blood on the bandages. His skin was still reddened where the lines had been on his skin, and of course Archie wouldn’t be able to do anything about his emaciated state until he awoke. But he was alive, and still sleeping soundly, so he had to be at least a little okay... Right?

“Hi there, May.” Archie said. He looked exhausted but he smiled at her anyways. “How are ya?”

“Hungry. But I’m okay.” She strolled over to him and put her hand on his face. “How’s your head?”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” He replied, playfully slapping her hand away. “I have a thick skull. I’m sure Maxie will tell ya that when he wakes up.”

“Is he okay?”

“Arceus, I hope so.” He sighed. “I knew about Groudon bein’ able to possess people, but I’m not sure what it actually does to them.” He paused and began to gently run his hand through Maxie’s messy hair. “Guess we won’t know until he wakes up.”

“Did you…” She eyed Maxie nervously, “uh, did you want something to eat?”

“I’m good for now, kiddo. I’ll wait til he gets up. Knock yourself out, though.”

She didn’t want to take Archie’s seat or sit on the bed, so she moved to the windowsill on the wall beside the bed and had a snack. Luckily, the window was mostly intact; there were a few cracks and a small hole that let a little water in, but all things considered it wasn’t an unpleasant place to hang out. She actually kind of liked the feeling of the cool water hitting her face. It reminded her of when her mom would make her take a shower and, out of sheer defiance, she’d take a cold one. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had taken a shower. Her mom would surely be appalled.

“Are things gonna go back to normal now?” May asked.

“I’m sure they will.” Archie said. “I don’t doubt that it’s gonna take forever to get the wild pokemon population back up and the plant life to grow back, but… yeah. I’m sure it’ll be the Hoenn we all know and love soon enough.”

“That’s good.” She did want to explore Hoenn when it wasn’t a desolate wasteland sometime. Maybe she’d be able to do that someday? She figured that when she got back to Lilycove, she’d probably finally go back to Johto. She loved Archie, but she wanted to be with her family again. But now she was beginning to wonder what Archie was going to do. He had had this plan since the start, so now that it was over, what was his plan? “What are you gonna do now?”

“Me?” He asked. He looked perplexed for a moment and scratched his chin. “Y’know, I’m not sure. Hadn’t really thought about it 'til now. Think I might get an eye patch, though. That’s definitely at the top of the list.” May laughed at that, and Archie laughed, too. “But… in all honesty…” He trailed off when he had noticed Maxie’s eyes slowly opening. “Maxie?” Archie asked, squeezing his hand gently. “Maxie, can ya hear me?”

“…Archie?” Maxie groaned, his voice was weak and barely audible above the muffled rain.

“Maxie!!” He pulled Maxie into a gentle hug. Maxie was too weak to hug him back or move much, but he shut his eyes and seemed to appreciate the embrace nonetheless. “Thank arceus, I was so worried!”

“Where am I?” Maxie asked when Archie finally let go.

“We’re still in Sootopolis. But hey, Groudon’s gone! May defeated it!!” He exclaimed.

“What?” He attempted to sit up and get a better look at May, but couldn’t get very far. Archie helped him up, but despite that, he still had to squint to look at her.

“May, can ya come a little closer? Max can’t see anythin’ without his glasses.” He paused. “Where are they, anyways?”

“I don’t know...” Maxie replied. May strolled over to the bed nervously. She knew the person before her likely couldn’t do anything in his condition, but she couldn’t help but be nervous. After all, she was face to face with the man that had singlehandedly brought a god back to life.

“H-hi.” May said.

“Child… May, right?” He said. May nodded. Slowly, his lips curled into a small smile. “Thank you. You’ve saved Hoenn and maybe even the world from my foolishness..." He paused, and May waited patiently for him to continue. It seemed in this state, even speaking was a strain on him. "Unfortunately, all I can offer right now is my gratitude. Thank you.”

“You’re, um, welcome.” She was surprised by how formally he was speaking; when she imagined Archie’s friend, especially one that had accidentally kick started the apocalypse, she expected someone more brash.

“Jeez, lighten up, Maxie!” Archie said, patting him on the back. “It’s over now, you can relax.”

“Archie…” He seemed irritated, but he turned his attention back on May. “How in the world did you end up here with him? Surely he must have tricked you somehow.”

“Even while half dead you can still make fun of me." Archie sighed. "Unbelievable." 

“He didn’t trick me.” May replied, oblivious to Maxie’s sarcasm. “After an earthquake, I was trapped in my house by myself. Archie got me out, and helped me look for my parents. They… they didn’t make it, though. So I decided to come with him here.”

“Your parents… passed away?” Maxie asked gently. It seemed even he wasn’t willing to say “died” in front of her. May just nodded again. “Child, I’m so sorry. A thousand apologies couldn’t change what I have done, but-” He was cut off by a violent coughing fit, one so bad that May could’ve sworn she had seen blood on his hands when he covered his mouth. Archie immediately rushed to his aid and May looked away. Despite all of the violence and terror that she had witnessed in the past couple of weeks, looking upon it still freaked her out.

“May, can I ask ya to leave for a bit?” Archie said nervously. “I think it’d be better if ya weren’t in the room.” May could hear Maxie gagging along with his coughing and decided she didn’t need to be told twice. She left the room and shut the door behind her.

She went back to the living room and settled down on the couch once more. This was the second time she had been kicked out, and based on the muffled sound of Archie’s panicked voice, something told her she wouldn’t be allowed back in anytime soon. It was kind of lonely. She knew it was selfish of her to think that way, but she couldn’t help but feel a little jealous of Maxie for taking Archie’s attention. After all, the two of them had been inseparable throughout this entire journey, save for their dispute in Mount Pyre. It was silly of her to be feeling like this. She released her pokemon in an attempt to ignore it.

“How are you feeling, Swampert?” When she released Swampert, he had reverted back to his normal form, but he still looked a little banged up. She used a potion on him, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to bring him back to complete health. Despite that he smiled at her and eagerly let her pet him. She brought out some food for her pokemon and watched them eat and talk amongst themselves from her comfortable spot on the couch.

She couldn’t get her mind off of the two men in the other room, however. Specifically Maxie. If she was honest, she still wasn’t sure how she felt about him. She wanted to hate him. And ever since she had found out what he had done at Mount Pyre, she _had_ hated him. But after meeting him in person, she didn’t know how to act. Despite Archie’s affection and defense towards him, she had imagined him to be a monster; to be someone who was wicked and evil through and through. But when she had talked to him in the Cave of Origin and in the bedroom, she realized that he was just a person. A person that had made a terrible mistake and felt absolutely awful for it. She hated what had happened to Hoenn and her parents and all the pokemon and people that perished, but… she didn’t hate Maxie. Maybe she could learn to like him when they all traveled to Lilycove again.

May felt herself growing tired once more, and decided to go to bed for real this time. Before she did, she headed back to the bedroom again. It was quiet now and, of course, she and Archie always said good night to one another before they went to bed. Maxie wasn’t going to break that tradition. She pushed on the door but stopped when she heard Archie and Maxie conversing on the other side. It would be rude of her to interrupt, so she decided to stand there and wait until there was a lull in the conversation.

“Ya sure ya don’t want anythin’ to eat? Nothin’ at all?” Archie asked.

“I don’t think I could stomach anything right now.” Maxie replied. His voice sounded even weaker than it had before, but at least he wasn’t coughing anymore.

“Ya sure? I mean… look at ya!”

“Look at yourself. …What happened to your eye, anyways?”

“During one of the first heat waves, I was lookin’ out a window. Not my smartest decision, huh?”

“Archie…”

“Don’t worry about it too much, Max. It looks cool, don’t ya think?”

“…Why are you being so nice to me? Why would you of all people come to help me after what I’ve done?”

“I already told ya in the cave, didn’t I? I love you. I’ve been meanin’ to tell ya that for years now, but…” He paused. “And even if that wasn’t the case, I still feel bad, too. I’ve contributed to a lotta this, and I can’t deny it. I wanna put everything behind us, if we can. How does that sound?”

“Archie…” He chuckled, but it didn’t sound very happy. “How exactly does someone like me put something like this behind me?”

“I dunno, but I’m sure ya can! As soon as people find out that ya kept Groudon at bay for this long-”

“What? I’ll win an award for not being as wicked as I could have been?”

“Max… we’ll find a way, I promise.”

“…Do you really believe I'm going to make it?” He said it quietly, too faint for Archie to hear.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. I’m feeling weary. Do you mind if I…?”

“Go ahead. You’re lookin’ a little pale.” There was a pause, then May heard a noise. It sounded like a kiss. “G’night, Max.”

“Mmm.”

May waited for a couple moments more and stamped her feet in front of the door, so it sounded like she was just approaching.

“Archie?” She asked as she walked into the room. “I’m gonna go to bed.”

“Sure, scamp.” Archie replied. “I wanna stay with him a little longer, okay?”

“Okay. Goodnight, Archie.”

“Night, kiddo.”

She returned to the couch for the last time and pulled her sleeping bag over her like a blanket. She still felt a little uneasy about Maxie, but… Archie really did seem to care about him. She found it hard to focus on her fears with the ever-constant sound of the rain hitting the roof above her. As a kid, the sound of rain was hard to sleep with and the booming thunder often kept her up at night. But now she found it comforting. It was a sign that the hardest part truly was over. She let the sound of the rain lull her to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 8 chapters, 40,000+ words later and finally, FINALLY Maxie shows up. Took awhile, huh.  
> This chapter was a pain to write tbh bc how do you write a pokemon battle and make it sound interesting? I hope I succeeded a little.  
> I'll be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of pokespe, but I thought the whole possession thing was cool, and a lot of cool fanart of a possessed ORAS-verse Maxie is part of what inspired me to write this fic. I obviously did not follow all of the rules of possession in the manga (or anime-verse for that matter) but I still wanted to include it. For clarification, I basically saw what was going on to be something like Malachite in Steven Universe. Where two beings are fused together and one is keeping the other in place, but at the cost of their own body and freedom. Maxie let Groudon possess his body, but had the will power to keep it and himself from going anywhere and causing more harm. I imagine it was a choice he made after he lost all his pokemon to Groudon in a last minute attempt to keep Groudon from destroying Hoenn. Something like that. What Archie has in strength Maxie makes up for in cunning, so I imagine that if Maxie were to be possessed, (ORAS Maxie, at least) his mind would be strong enough to still have some control over himself, while Archie- and most people in general- wouldn't. Something like that. Obviously that's not canon in the pokemon stories that have possession but. Whatever. I hope it at least made a little sense.


	9. Route 126

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry

When May woke up the next morning, she was alone. This was unusual. She could be quite the heavy sleeper; and usually it was Archie shaking her awake. The first thing she noticed was the sound of the pouring rain hitting the rooftop. May wasn’t sure how long she had been asleep, but the rain certainly had not let up in the slightest. This would be worrisome on any other occasion, but the entire ocean was falling from the sky. No way that’d just happen in one night.

She stretched and hopped off of the couch. For the first time in ages, she actually felt well rested. Save for Mauville, they had gotten up early every day and were out on the road as soon as possible. She had been so determined to find her parents and keep going that it hadn’t bothered her but now that that was over, it felt nice to sleep in. She hadn’t realized just how exhausted this whole journey had made her. She assumed Archie must feel the same way if he wasn’t awake yet.

As expected, she found the two of them in the bedroom. Maxie was still asleep on the bed and Archie still sat beside him on his chair, though he had fallen asleep and was bent over, using Maxie’s chest as a pillow. May figured she should wake them up; this may have been the first time any of them had gotten proper rest, but with the way Archie was sleeping, his back was certainly going to hurt. That, and she was kind of bored of this place and she wanted to go home. She crept closer but as she got a better look at them, she noticed something was off. Maxie’s chest wasn’t moving. His chest should have been rising and falling with each breath that he took, but there was nothing. She felt her blood run cold as she tiptoed closer. She needed to be sure. She needed to be absolutely sure.

She walked to the bedside and slowly reached her hand out. Maybe she could check for a pulse or something? She wasn’t sure how to do it properly, but she was sure it couldn’t be that hard. She grabbed his hand and immediately dropped it with a gasp. It was cold. It was really cold. She covered her mouth and took a few steps back. She wanted to scream; she had encountered so much death on this journey, but this was the first time she had actually been around someone that died. Her parents had been long dead when she had found them, and most all other dead people she had encountered had been nothing but piles of ash. But this was the first time someone she had been so certain would live had… died. She thought that after they rescued him, Maxie would be fine. That the offhanded comment he had made last night was just him being a pessimist about his situation. She had honestly thought…

“No…” Her voice was a quiet whisper. She didn’t know much about Maxie but… she hadn’t wanted him to die. Enough people had already. And Archie… he had been so happy last night. What in the world was he going to do when he found out? She took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down. She needed to think of what she would say to Archie.

“May?” She jumped at the voice, and turned around to look at Archie. He sat up, rubbed his eye and smiled at her sleepily. “Did ya come in here to wake me up?”

“Um… y-yeah, I did.” She replied nervously. “I can, um, go, if you want me to…”

“No, no don’t worry about it.” Archie replied. “’Bout time we get up anyways.” He stood up and stretched but May couldn’t bring herself to stop staring at Maxie. “Is somethin’ wrong? Ya look a little pale, scamp.”

“N-no! I’m just excited to go home, I guess.”

“Me, too. And I’m sure Max is as well.” He leaned over the bed and gave Maxie a kiss on the forehead. “Mornin’ Max!” When Maxie didn’t stir, Archie began to shake him gently. “Hey, Max, it’s time to get up!” May turned away and looked at the window as if it were the most interesting thing she had seen in her life. “I guess he’s more tired than I thought.” He chuckled nervously. She kept her eyes on the window. She really didn’t want to watch him find out. “We-well, I guess I don’t mind carryin’ him until he wakes up. May, let’s go.” He gathered Maxie up into his arms and headed out of the door quickly. May followed behind nervously. He had to have figured it out, right?

“Archie…” May said, quickly putting her shoes on. “Archie, wait up!” Archie seemed to be in quite the hurry today. He hadn’t waited for her to get her things together. He hadn’t even offered to sit and have something to eat like he usually did in the morning. He was out the door before she had even had her backpack on. He must have noticed. There was no way he didn’t.

“Archie?” She followed him outside. The rain was coming down quite violently now, but she trekked through it anyways. Sootopolis was formed in such a way that the water was all forced down into the lake in the center. There was certainly quite a bit more rain to go before the lake would reach the point it was at before Groudon attacked; most of it was falling down the hole that lead to the ocean floor, anyways. Archie was quickly headed towards the way out, cradling Maxie in his arms gently. Despite the constant pour of rain hitting his face, Maxie didn’t stir and his body remained limp.

“Wait up!” May cried, running after him. It was hard to chase after him without slipping on the slick rocks, but she eventually caught up to him just as he was walking past the demolished Poke Mart. He didn’t look at her as she walked by his side, instead staring forward, silent and utterly determined.

“Um…” She began.

“He’ll be fine.” Archie interrupted.

“I don’t think he-”

“As soon as we get him to the hospital in Lilycove, he’ll be fine.” Archie repeated. There was sharpness to his words that May had never heard before. He seemed… agitated. Angry? She wasn’t sure. It made her uneasy, but she had to persist. There was no way they could cross the ocean with him carrying Maxie the whole time, especially if he was a lost cause.

“Archie, please listen to me.” She said desperately.

“Not now, May.”

“You need to stop. Maxie-”

“Scamp, I mean it.” She could see him gritting his teeth and his hands were beginning to shake.

“Maxie’s-”

“I KNOW!!!” He shouted. He finally stopped and May stopped too, taking a few steps back in fear. Archie did shout a lot but never had she heard him snap like this. He didn’t say anything more. He just pulled Maxie’s limp form closer to him and took a few shuddering breaths. “I… I know…” He said nothing more, instead just collapsing to his knees and proceeded to weep, holding Maxie’s body to him as he did so.

May was at a loss of what to do. She had never seen him, or any adult for that matter, be so upset before. What exactly was she supposed to say now? He was an adult; he wouldn't believe any promises that it would be okay or that everything was all right. They just wouldn't change anything. But she couldn’t do nothing. Just watching him like this was making her tear up, too. Archie had been so confident and optimistic this whole time, and it broke her heart to see him like this. She tried to remember what Archie had done to make her feel better all those times she had lost people. She couldn't change anything, but perhaps she could help a little. Slowly, she inched closer and sat down beside him, just like he had for her in Lilycove. She reached out and rubbed his back gently.

The two of them sat there for a while in the pouring rain, with Archie sobbing and May simply patting his back gently as an attempt at comfort. She wanted to say something, something that could cheer him up or make him feel better. But she knew that it was pointless. All those times May had broken down, Archie had waited for her to calm down on her own accord. She knew how awful it was to feign happiness when she was feeling her worst. And Archie had just lost the person he had traveled across a whole region for, when he had been alive merely moments before. She couldn't imagine any scenario that could be worse. She remained quiet and leaned against him, hoping the gesture was coming off as comforting. 

Of course, Archie couldn’t cry forever, and soon enough, his sobs eased their way into shuddering breaths.

“Are you okay, Arhice?” May asked cautiously once he had quieted down. Archie didn’t say anything and instead just stood up, still cradling Maxie in his arms. “Um…”

“Let’s…” He took a deep breath and sighed. “Let’s find a place for him.”

“Okay.” May got up and followed him once again. He still hadn’t answered her question, but she figured it was best not to pry right now. She remembered just how much she had wanted to be left alone when she lost her parents. And unlike her, Archie had actually gotten to Maxie. He had been alive and had talked to him. May didn’t even get to see her parents. At least she didn’t have her hopes raised only to have them dashed merely hours later. Despite that, she still tried to think of something to say to him now that he was finished crying. She tried to remember what Archie had said to her the times she was upset, but nothing was coming to her. She had never seen Archie upset before. She had no idea how he was going to act.

They walked back up and down the many flights of stairs until they reached the center of town again. Instead of heading towards the Cave of Origin, however, he went the opposite direction towards that gigantic tree in the center of the clearing.

“I think… we should put him here.” Archie said.

“Did Maxie like nature?” May asked.

“He loved it. This was the only part of Sootopolis he could stomach. Said that if you were facin’ the right way, you cold pretend you were sittin’ in the middle of the mountains instead of in the ocean.” They approached the tree, but Archie made no effort to move Maxie. Instead he was glancing desperately at him, as if expecting that soon enough he’d just wake up and all of this was just some silly misunderstanding.

“Archie?” May asked gently, “Did you want me to bury him? I’m sure Swampert could-”

“No, it's... it's okay. I got it.” Archie said. He finally stepped forward, albeit nervously. He placed Maxie down against the tree gently, propping him up against it as if he were just sitting there, looking at the crater just as Archie had described. Archie knelt down before him and May took a few steps back, giving them their space. She could hear him whispering something to Maxie, but couldn’t quite make it out. She was curious, but she kept her distance; this really was just for the two of them. He finally went quiet and gave Maxie one final kiss on the forehead, before walking back towards May.

“Let’s go.” He said solemnly. May simply nodded and followed him.

They were quiet for a while. May had attempted to start a conversation with him, but he had cut her off. Clearly, the ever-sociable Archie was not in the mood to talk right now. She supposed she couldn’t blame him. After all, he had been so close. She had lost so many people, but she couldn’t imagine what it must be like to lose someone who was alive and in her arms merely moments before.

They left Sootopolois and traveled through Route 126 in silence. The rocky landscape of the ocean was even more difficult to navigate through than before. The water level, though still meager in comparison to the vast ocean it once was, now reached a little above May’s ankles. It made it tedious to walk through, but Archie seemed to be having no trouble whatsoever. She knew his mind must be on other things. Traversing this landscape was far more fun when Archie was joking around and talking with her, but she couldn’t just make everything better that quickly, right? If silence was what he needed, then she’d provide it.

As they got farther, the rain began to come down harder. Maybe it was just the time of day? Or maybe it was the rapidly dropping temperature. May wasn’t sure, but it was quickly getting harder and harder to walk, especially in the lower elevation areas that were supposed to be completely submerged. She found it getting harder to see as well. The rain kept fogging up her goggles, and if she removed them, the salt water rain would sting her eyes.

“Archie, maybe we should find somewhere higher to rest for a bit?” May asked, absent-mindedly reaching for his hand. But she couldn’t find it. “Archie?” She turned and noticed he wasn’t by her side. In fact, she realized he had fallen quite a bit behind her and was just standing alone in the middle of the rain, unmoving. “Archie?”

He looked miserable. It didn’t look like he had heard her, or was even paying attention at all. He gazed up at the sky, not seeming to care about the violent rain pelting his face. It was so unsettling to see him this quiet. She was beginning to think that setting out so soon after he had lost Maxie was a bad idea. It had taken them a little under a week to reach Sootopolis when the ocean was a desert, so who knew how long it would take now? And who in the world would feel like walking that distance after losing the one they loved most?

“Archie?” She repeated, walking towards him. He finally seemed to notice her existence, but that clearly didn’t alter his mood in the slightest. “Are you tired? Did you wanna find somewhere to rest for a sec?”

“I’m fine.” He finally replied. “Just… go on ahead, all right?”

“What? No. We’re going together. We should-”

“Why the hell do ya wanna travel with me?” He snapped. “What good have I done for you or anyone for that matter?!”

“H-hey…”

“I couldn’t help ya find your parents. I got ya hurt, I lied to ya so many times…”

“What are you saying? Archie, we just defeated a god together!”

“That was still you!” He shouted. “I can’t help anyone and I was stupid to think that I could!”

“Archie!!” She pitched forward and hugged him tightly. He didn’t hug her back, but he didn’t make any effort to push her away, either. Which was good, because she didn’t plan on letting him go quite yet. “Please stop talking like this. Can’t we just go home? Please? …Haven't we lost enough already?”

“May…” He sighed and hugged her back. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” He looked around him at the harsh rain, as if finally aware of its existence. “Yeah, let’s find some place to rest.”

The two of them headed up towards higher elevation, to what used to be a small island floating in the sea. There were tons of them by Sootopolis, and May knew that at least one of them must have a place where they could relax. Brendan had told her all about secret bases. Apparently, they were a huge deal in Hoenn; people would find small caves, or spaces within trees and bushes where they could set up a little fort. They were never big or fancy like a house or a cabin, but for a traveling adventurer, they were convenient. Plus, it was nice to have a home away from home. When May had heard of them, she had been amazed, and utterly shocked that there was nothing of the sort back in Johto. The two of them had planned on having secret bases side by side once they were old enough to travel. May sighed at the thought of it. If there was anything she was realizing from this journey, it was just how many promises were now meaningless.

Luckily, on the second high elevation area they traveled to, they came across a small cave. This must be one of the secret bases Brendan had told her about. After all, the cave’s entrance was just barely tall enough for her to not have to stoop while coming in. Much to her surprise, the space already had quite a bit of furniture in it. May thought she would’ve found an empty one. This one was bigger than she had anticipated; it had one fairly large room, and in the back she could see a small passage that turned to the right, likely leading to another room. It was kind of thrilling to see it; maybe one day, she could have a base like this, too.

The moment she stepped into the cave, she was covered in glitter. She gasped and swatted it away for a moment and noticed that below her feet was a strange little mat with a sparkle design on it. Curiously, she tapped her foot against it again, and more glitter came cascading out.

“Archie, watch out.” May warned, as he followed her inside.

“The mat shoots out glitter, right?” He replied, stepping over it. “Believe me, there’s worse ones. Max had one that sent ya back in the opposite direction.” He flashed a smile at the memory for a second, but it was there only for a moment. If anything, he looked sadder after mentioning it. Talking about Maxie probably wasn't the best idea right now. 

In the center of the room was a large, blue mat with a wave design on it, and sitting on top of it were a few cushions placed in a circle. Against the wall was a large poster of a relicanth, and beside that a vending machine, the light inside broken. There was a tiny table made to look like a pokeball against the right wall with two matching stools beside it. To her right was a small pot of flowers, but they were beginning to wilt. May could see a faint light coming from further in the cave.

“Do you think someone’s living in here?” May asked, dropping her voice to a whisper.

“Dunno. Doubt it, though.” May continued forward through the darkness anyways, curiosity getting the best of her. She turned through the dark hallway and stepped on yet another glitter mat. She groaned; just how many of these did one person need? She dusted the glitter off of her clothing and when she looked up, she noticed a dark, looming form standing before her. She screamed and fell backwards, causing even more glitter to explode onto her. She squinted at the figure in the darkness, but couldn’t quite make out what it was. Before she had time to truly get a look at it, a light was suddenly shining in her face. She groaned, but finally cracked her eyes open once the light moved off of her face. A man was standing over her, a flashlight in hand. He was leaning heavily against his ludicolo, and despite his attempts to glare at her intimidatingly, May couldn’t help but notice how weak he looked.

He was also the strangest looking man she had ever laid eyes on.

He had long turquoise hair that was tied back in a messy bun. He was wearing a sort of purple crop top that showed off his midriff, and white pants that seemed to be attached to his teal vest. She could see how bony he was underneath the strange clothes, and his skin was sickly pale; like he hadn’t been outside in ages. However, it wasn’t his outfit nor his frail appearance that she had noticed first. His left pant leg was dyed copper red with dried blood, and even with the fabric still mostly intact she could see just how mangled his leg was underneath it. He stared down at her with strangely familiar teal eyes.

“U-um…” She began nervously.

“May! Are you…” Archie exclaimed, clearly alerted by her scream. He stopped abruptly when he noticed the man and his ludicolo in the middle of the cave. He moved his flashlight up to Archie and seemed to recognize him.

“You're the leader of Team Aqua... Archie, I think?” He asked.

“Wallace?” Archie replied.

“Are you two friends?” May asked. Wallace seemed to have forgotten she was there, and looked down on her with concern.

“Apologies for scaring you. May, right?” May nodded. “Let me introduce myself. I’m Wallace, the Sootopolis Gym Leader.” He stepped forward and extended his arm to help her up, but he put too much pressure on his leg and groaned out in agony. Luckily, his ludicolo’s grip was strong and kept him from falling.

“Are you okay?” May asked, getting up on her own.

“Do ya need to sit? C’mon.” Archie held on to Wallace’s other arm, and they all headed towards the first room in the base. Wallace returned Ludicolo to his pokeball, and all but collapsed in one of the small, pokeball shaped stools, and Archie sat down awkwardly across from him. May was more than happy to relax on one of the cute cushions just a little bit away.

“Wallace, what happened to ya?” Archie finally asked.

“I could ask you the same.” Wallace replied, still panting from the pain. “What happened to your eye?”

“I was lookin’ out a window when Groudon… y’know. Coulda been worse, I guess.”

“I see.” He turned his attention back onto May. “What about you?”

“What about me?” She asked in response. From what she could tell, there were no significant scars or injuries on her. Well, she did have one, but it certainly wasn’t visible to Wallace at the moment.

“What are you doing here?” He asked.

“We were doing the same thing as you.” May replied. “We came to Sootopolis to stop Groudon.”

“So that’s in then. You’re the reason this is happening.” He gestured to the cave entrance, where all of them could see the rain coming down.

“Mm-hmm!” May nodded enthusiastically.

“Unbelievable.” Wallace snapped, glaring at Archie. “After what Maxie did, your first thought was to awaken Kyogre to stop it?”

“What?” Archie replied.

“This rain! This isn’t natural! This must be the work of Kyogre, correct?”

“Hey, Archie and I beat Groudon fair!” May protested.

“May, are you aware of who you’re traveling with?”

“Yes. He’s my friend.” May pouted. “And he’s not lying.” To prove her point, Archie pulled the red and blue orbs from his backpack and placed them down on the table before Wallace. He gasped and looked at them in awe, carefully reaching out to touch them. May just smirked. “I told you.“

“…You two must be fearsome trainers indeed. Steven and I didn’t even make it to Groudon.”

“We did see Steven’s metagross while we were there…” May said nervously. She noticed that the child-like awe that had been on his face moments before completely vanished, replaced by the cold stare he had had before. “What happened to you?”

“We…” He sighed. “After Groudon began its rampage, we retreated back to Mossdeep and came up with a plan to stop Groudon. We thought we were so prepared. We’re two of the best trainers in Hoenn, and yet… We forgot just how unpredictable nature itself could be.” He rubbed his leg tenderly, wincing slightly at the contact. “There was an earthquake while we were exploring Sootopolis. A building came crashing down and… Steven pushed me to the side. It crushed him and it crushed my leg as well. And by the time Metagross and I got him out…” He shook his head. “I was in no condition to fight Groudon. I was hardly able to move. There was no way I could get anywhere on my own, so I had my Gyarados take me to my base, and I’ve been here ever since.”

“Adults can have secret bases too?” May asked.

“May, not now.” Archie replied curtly.

“Sorry.” Still, she paused and looked around the base again with a newfound appreciation.

“Sorry to hear about the champ.” Archie said.

“It’s… all right.” Wallace replied bitterly. “We’ve all lost people. From what I can tell, pretty recently, too. Tell me, what became of Maxie?”

Archie’s eye was still a little red and swollen. He averted his gaze away from Wallace and stared at his leg instead.

“How’s your leg?“ Archie asked, quickly changing the subject. “I think we have extra bandages.” Wallace looked like he wanted to ask more, but held back for now.

“I would appreciate it.” Wallace rolled up his pant leg and May gasped at the sight of it. It was definitely broken from the knee down; it was twisted the wrong way, and even with the attempts at bandaging, May could see the white of his bone poking out through one of the many gashes. His leg and the bandages above it were caked in blood, but at the very least, it looked like it had stopped bleeding. She decided to look away; she felt bad for Wallace, but just looking at it made her feel queasy.

They were quiet for a while. May sat on the cushion, just watching the rain pour outside while Archie helped Wallace bandage his injured leg. May was certainly happy that she had found Wallace; after finding Steven’s metagross, she had figured that he had died too. It was nice knowing that, for once, a promise she had made would actually be kept. But… she had hoped it would have been better than this. Despite Groudon being put back to sleep, things were still so dismal. Shouldn’t the worst of it be over now?

“Hey, Wallace? Now that Groudon’s gone… did you wanna come with us?” May asked.

“What?” Wallace asked, finishing the last of the bandaging.

“Archie and I are heading home. You should come too.”

“I cannot.” He replied, shaking his head.

“Why not?”

“There’s… there’s simply nothing left for me out there.” He said gravely. “Steven is dead. I failed to protect him, and the people of Hoenn as well, so-”

“So what?” May interjected. She was starting to get tired of this self-loathing attitude that everyone around her was displaying. Sure, she understood it. She understood it well. But they were all so close. “That doesn’t mean you have to die. Why are you guys acting like everything’s ruined?”

“You guys?” Archie repeated.

“Yeah, you too, Archie! You were just doing this a minute ago!” May snapped. “Groudon’s gone. The worst is over. And I know you guys messed up along the way. I did, too. There were people I know I could’ve helped. And I still feel bad about it every day.” She clutched at Brendan’s mega evolution bracelet gently. She thought about how Brendan had been by her side all this time. But, besides him, there were so many people she had left, too. People who were still living. People she could still go back to and make new memories with. Wally was still out there, and they were going to battle once things got settled. She still needed to return Tabitha’s camerupt to him. Lisia was still waiting for her, desperate for her to bring Wallace back as well. May cracked a smile; she began to realize just how foolish she was for ever thinking she was actually alone. “But… I’m not alone. And neither are either of you. We all have homes and people to go back to!” She noticed for the first time all day, Archie looked hopeful, in fact, he looked close to smiling. Wallace, on the other hand, still looked skeptical. She strolled over towards Wallace and put her hand on his shoulder, just like what Archie would do to reassure her. “Stopping Groudon isn’t the only reason I came here. I promised Lisia that I’d bring you back.”

“Lisia?” Wallace repeated, eyes going wide. “You mean she’s… alive?”

“Yes. And she’s waiting for you. She doesn’t care if you’re the one who stopped Groudon or not. She just wants to see you again!”

“Are you sure?” For a moment, she noticed a faint glimmer in his eyes; the slightest glimpse of hope. It didn’t last long, and he looked skeptical once more. May began to wonder if this was how she looked to Archie all of those times she had asked for reassurance.

“Yes.” She replied. “I promise.”

For the first time in months, she said those two words with confidence.

Wallace was quiet for a moment, seemingly deep in thought.

“Archie.” He finally said. “Can you help me up? I want to go outside for a moment.”

“Yeah, sure thing.” Archie helped Wallace up, and the three of them headed to the entrance of the base. Once outside, Wallace took a deep breath as he glanced at the world around him. He looked as shocked as he did when she had brought up Lisia. But this time, a small smile appeared on his lips as he gazed at the rainy landscape.

“Let’s go home.” He finally said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maxie was..... going to die from the start. That was actually the first scene I had planned out. I actually felt a little bad posting this after reading all the commenters saying how sad they'd be if he died, but... the ending of this story, especially in Archie's case, is revolved around him being gone. The next hardenshipping fic I'm currently writing will end happily. I know it's a trope in this fic that promises are meaningless, but... I promise. (I mean it) (im trying to be funny)
> 
> Another clarification tho, regarding Maxie's possession. People would obviously die without food and water for two months. Since being possessed involves two beings combined, I imagine Groudon, a powerful god, was keeping him alive all this time with its power. And once they were separated, it didn't take long for the dehydration, hunger, fatigue, and everything to catch up to him. Maxie was doomed from the start, but at the very least he prevented the problem from being far worse than it could have been. 
> 
> Also before you say anything... yes, I am aware that Gyarados cannot fly. But that's ridiculous, it's a flying type, it flies in the manga, and I wasn't going to randomly add another pokemon to Wallace's team just to have that one scene make sense. He's been through enough. They all have. Gyarados can fly in this canon. Fight me. 
> 
> On a happier note though... I actually created Wallace's secret base in my copy of Omega Ruby, mostly so I could use it as a ref. But... since it's there, I might as well share the QR code. That way, if y'all are interested, you can add me to your secret base team, or battle me for writing this. Whatever you want. It's on Route 126, and you need both surf and dive to reach it. It's a little tedious, but you will find it soon enough. (Hint: it's in the top left of the Route, hidden by rocks and such) Here's the link to the QR code, knock yourself out: http://lookerdewitt.tumblr.com/private/140849485731/tumblr_o3vexrMC1t1ql0nud


	10. Olivine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I stated in the notes of the last chapter: Gyarados flies in this canon. I don't care that gyarados can't canonically fly. It's a flying type. It flies in the manga. Grant me peace. Grant all these characters peace. Gyarados can fly.

If there was one thing that May learned from this journey, it was that flying on a pokemon’s back is not as cool as she had thought it would be. She had always imagined herself on the back of some glamorous flying pokemon like charizard, sailing through the skies above Johto and later Hoenn. She imagined it would be so much fun to fly above everyone else and gaze at the cities and forests and the tiny people below her.

She supposed that maybe that was what flying was like when she wasn’t clinging to a slippery fish while it was pouring outside.

After Wallace had announced that he was going home with them, he had rushed back into his secret base, grabbing whatever useful items he had left as well as his- and Steven’s- remaining pokemon. Luckily, he had a gyarados on him, capable of carrying the three of them comfortably. Comfortably, as in there was enough room on its massive body for all of them to hang on. It certainly wasn’t comfortable. In fact, it was terrifying. The three of them didn’t talk to each other much; after all, clinging to Gyarados was hard enough. May wanted to sit up and look at the land below her, but she couldn’t do much without moving dangerously close to falling off. From what she could see, all that was below her was rocks and sand and rain. So much rain. She could see some of the deep crevices in the ocean floor being filled with water, and was thankful they had a Gyarados to carry them through. As uncomfortable as this was, it beat travelling through a flooding desert for days or possibly weeks. Still, whenever she got a pokemon that knew how to fly, it most certainly was not going to be a fish.

“I see it!!” Archie shouted. In the rain she could barely even see him, let alone whatever he was looking at.

“What?!” She screamed in response. “Lilycove?!”

“Aye, right ahead!! We’re almost there, kiddo!!”

She still couldn’t see anything other than what was directly below her, but she took his word for it. Gyarados also began to plummet down towards the ground, so they must be close. That, or Gyarados was crash landing and they were all going to die. But she wanted to believe the flying on the back of a giant fish wasn’t how she was going to go. Finally, Gyarados came in for a landing on the beach beside Lilycove. It made sure to land on the sandbanks before they dropped off into the still filling ocean. She slid off the gyarados and all but collapsed into the sand. Her legs were shaky and she felt light headed. She didn’t usually get sick on roller coasters or anything like that, but a giant flying fish crossed the line.

“Ya get used to it when ya have a flyin’ type.” Archie said as he helped Wallace down.

“But it’s a fish.” She replied.

“Yeah, I know. Something tells me you’d be better off with something like a pelipper, or maybe a flygon.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“May?” Wallace asked, leaning against Archie heavily, “Where is Lisia? Can you take me to her?”

“I’ll find her, just wait here.” May replied. Something told her that Wallace wasn’t going to be able to get through the tiny passageway in the contest hall with his leg like that. Besides, she would like to use her feet again after flying on Gyarados for what felt like years. As soon as the dizziness had faded, she headed towards the stairs that lead towards the main path around Lilycove. Very little had changed since she had last been here; after all, it had only been a little over a week. However, it looked far livelier in the pouring rain. People were outside, ecstatic about the rain and the cooler temperatures, and she even noticed a few kids younger than her playing in the puddles in the dips of the sidewalk. It looked enticing, but she could do it later. She had to fulfill her promise to Lisia.

She crawled through the small tunnel to the contest hall and found Lisia inside, gently petting her swablu. It didn’t seem like the two of them were doing much; just gazing at the low roof while the rain pelted it. She supposed it wasn’t the strangest thing to do; no one had had rain in such a long time, after all. Once she saw May come in, she gasped and her trademark smile returned.

“May!!” She exclaimed. She rushed over to her and hugged her tight, her swablu following along happily. “You did it!!! You really did it!! It was so amazing! I was just standing there and suddenly it got soooo much cooler and rain began to fall and, just, I’m so proud of you!!” She was a blubbering mess of excitement, and each time she seemed like she was going to let go, she remembered something else and hugged May tighter. May didn’t mind, however. She realized this was the first time throughout her journey that she had actually been reunited with someone she had left behind. She hugged Lisia back; it was a wonderful feeling to see someone familiar again.

“Thank you, Lisia!” May replied when she finally got a word in. “But c’mon, I have to show you something!” She grabbed Lisia’s hand and the two of them headed back out into the rain. May quickly lead them back towards the beach, where she noticed that quite a crowd had grown. Wallace had not yet returned his Gyarados, and the people of Lilycove were flocking around it and, specifically, Wallace. With Lisia’s popularity, it was no surprise that he was a celebrity around here as well.

“I know that gyarados…!” Lisia gasped as the two of them drew closer. She squeezed May’s hand tighter, and soon enough it was Lisia leading the way instead. She eagerly pushed through the crowd of spectators until finally, finally, Wallace and Archie stood a few feet before them. May noticed that Wallace had been smiling, clearly his gym leader and contest coordinator persona back on at the sight of all these people, but once he caught a glimpse of Lisia, it vanished completely. He looked at her with wide eyes, and began to limp towards the two of them. Lisia looked equally as star struck, and her hand slowly slipped from May’s.

“Lisia?” Wallace asked. The confident air about him was completely gone and his voice was shaky.

“Uncle Wall!!” She cried. She barreled towards him and pulled him into a tight hug. He hugged her back, and the two of them sank to the ground, not caring about the sand sticking to their clothes.

“I knew you’d come back!” Lisia said in between sobs. “I knew you’d be okay!”

“Lisia…” May could see that he was crying, too. “I’m so sorry I kept you waiting. I can’t even imagine the things you’ve-”

“Don’t worry about it.” Lisia replied, smiling up at him. “I’m just so happy that you’re here!!”

While the two of them were in their embrace, May quietly made her way towards Archie, who had been watching the whole ordeal in silence. He didn’t say anything, and simply put his arm around her when she got close enough.

“It’s nice.” He whispered.

“What is?” May replied.

“This.” Archie said, still staring at Wallace and Lisia. “It’s so nice to finally see somethin’ go right.”

“Yeah.” She supposed she was a little jealous that Lisia got to reunite with her family while she did not, but she couldn’t help but smile anyways. With the long string of depressing events and loss, it was such a relief to see something like this play out before her. She sighed and absent-mindedly leaned against Archie, suddenly aware of just how tired she was, and the two of them watched the happy scene before them unfold together.

* * *

It took about a week and a half for the rain to let up, but when it did, the clouds all but vanished, painting the sky a beautiful light blue. No one had seen the sky like this in ages, and it certainly helped lift the people of Hoenn’s spirits. The air quality was still low, but with normal weather patterns returning, it was slowly beginning to clear up. May noticed more and more people going outside for reasons other than necessity now. She and Archie stayed in Lilycove for about a week afterwards, helping the people rebuild. It was going to be a long, difficult process, but now that there was no longer random, unpredictable earthquakes and heat waves ravaging the earth, people could begin to rebuild with confidence. May finally realized what Archie meant when he had called this place beautiful. With the beautiful blue sea surrounding it, Lilycove was quite the sight. She could only imagine what it must have looked like when the buildings were all intact, and the plants all green and flourishing.

Within a week and a half of the ocean’s return, boats from other regions could finally reach Hoenn. Plenty of volunteers as well as worried friends and relatives of natives poured in to help. And it was with the arrival of the boats that May finally decided to take her leave. Archie could only take care of her for so long; and she needed her actual home and actual family to return to.

“You won’t be gone forever, will you?” Lisia had asked her. She and Wallace had been sure to see her off at the Lilycove Harbor.

“Uh-huh.” May replied, shaking her head. “I promise I’ll be back. And by then, I’ll be a super strong trainer! I just know it!”

“If that’s the case, then I’m gonna be the most popular contest idol around, y’hear?”

“It’s a deal.” The two of them held hands and squeezed tight.

“May…” Wallace interjected, smiling at her gently. “I cannot thank you enough for all you have done. For Hoenn…” He paused, placing his hand gently on Lisia’s shoulder. “And for us.”

“You’re, um, welcome.” Ever since he had reunited with Lisia, his mood had elevated quite substantially. But despite that, May still had a hard time reading him. It was nice that he wasn’t in that depressive state he was in back in his secret base. She couldn’t wait to catch a glimpse of him at his prime whilst battling or competing in contests. “I’m gonna come back and try out the Hoenn league someday. Maybe I’ll end up battling you?”

“Oooh, that’d be awesome!” Lisia exclaimed. “Uncle Wall is super good!! He might even be in Ever Grande City by the time you get back!”

“Ever Grande? Where’s that?” May asked.

“It’s where the Hoenn Elite Four are.” Wallance answered.

“It’s sooo pretty there, May! There’s tons of flowers and- oh! I know!” She grabbed ahold of May’s hand again eagerly. “Next time you’re here, how about I show you? It’s super pretty!”

“I’d love to.” May replied with a smile.

“Then it’s a date! I can’t wait, May!”

“Hey, scamp?” Archie asked, tapping her on the shoulder. “The boat’s about to head out. Think you’re ready?”

“Yeah, one sec.” She turned to Wallace and Lisia one last time. “I’ll… see you guys around?”

“You’re always welcome here, May.”

“Of course!! I look forward to it!” Wallace waved goodbye to her politely, while Lisia gave her a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. May was still blushing by the time she reached Archie on the deck of the ship.

“Lots of goodbyes, huh?” He asked.

“Mmm-hmm.” May nodded, rubbing her cheek absent-mindedly. “Thanks for coming with me, Archie.”

“Sure thing, scamp.” He replied. “It was stupid of me to have ya go on your own the first time.”

“I get why.”

“I know ya do. Doesn’t excuse it though.” They were silent for a while after that as they watched the boat depart from Lilycove and the shape of Hoenn got smaller and smaller against the horizon. Archie had been rather quiet these past couple of weeks. He wasn’t quite as cheerful as he had been since before Maxie’s death, but she supposed he was still in mourning. But at this point, who wasn’t? She wondered how different she must seem in comparison to just a few months ago.

The trip to Johto lasted about two days, and while May had quite a bit of fun on board, she couldn’t wait to get back to Olivine. She wanted to see her grandma and her old friends again. But most importantly, she couldn’t wait to take a nice, long bath and wear something clean for a change.

“Look, Archie!” She exclaimed as the boat drew closer to the shore. “There’s Olivine!! There it is!!!” Normally May wouldn’t get quite this excited over her own hometown, but she couldn’t help it. During the whole ordeal in Hoenn, part of her believed that she would never see it again. That, and the sight of an intact city, surrounded by green, beautiful wildlife was enough to take her breath away.

“It’s beautiful.” Archied replied, gazing at it along with her. “Still don’t think it compares to Slateport.”

“You haven’t even seen it yet.”

When May arrived at the Olivine Port, no one familiar was waiting there for her. It wasn’t surprising, seeing how power had not yet returned to most of Hoenn. She wondered how much the rest of the world knew about what was going on there. She held Archie’s hand and led him to her Grandma’s house. It was a bit of a ways from the coast, but it was nothing compared to traversing an entire ocean on foot. She was too close to let her tired feet get the best of her. Once she reached the front door, however, she hesitated.

“What’s the matter, kiddo?” Archie asked. “This is the right house, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is.” May would never mix it up in her life. It was perched beside a cliff above the ocean. She remembered leaning over the deck to try and see the ocean better, and scaring the daylights out of her parents while doing so.

“Then what’s the matter?”

“Archie, do you think she’ll be mad at me?”

“For what?”

“I… I mean…” She could feel herself growing anxious. “I’m the only one left.”

“Now don’t you worry about that.” Archie said, kneeling down so he was at her level. “She’s gonna be happy to see ya, like any good grandma should. And if she’s not happy, I’m gonna give her a piece of my mind.”

“Th-thanks, Archie.” She chuckled, unsure if he was serious or not about that last part. She took a deep breath and finally knocked on the door. She stood there nervously, as she listened for movement from inside. She could hear two sets of footsteps heading towards the door, one lighter much more hastily than the other. She could guess that that was her grandma’s furret. Finally, the door creaked open, and her grandmother stood there, with her furret by her feet. The pokemon recognized May and immediately jumped into her arms.

“Heya, Furret!” May said, petting him as he nuzzled his head against her neck. “I've missed you!”

“May…?” Her grandma asked. May finally looked up at her grandma nervously. She must have been shocked at the sight of her granddaughter all disheveled and dirty at her doorstep. But May noticed that she looked different as well. It seemed like she had gotten older; she noticed more wrinkles around her eyes and her graying brown hair seemed to be more on the gray side. May began to wonder if, during this whole adventure, she had aged at all either.

“H-hi, Grandma.” May finally said.

“Oh, sweetheart!” She stepped forwards and hugged May, gently stroking her dirty hair.

“I missed you, grandma.” May whispered.

“I missed you, too.” Her grandma replied, finally pulling away. “I’m so happy you’re here! Sweetheart, where’s…” She looked up at Archie cautiously. “Where’s Norman? And Caroline?”

“Um…” May trailed off. This is what she had been dreading. She took a deep breath and responded. “They’re… gone. They didn’t, um, make it. I’m sorry.” Much to her surprise, her grandmother didn’t look angry or horrified; she was heartbroken, of course, but she remained sympathetic.

“Don’t apologize for that now, May.” She said, taking hold of May’s hand gently. Despite her assurance, May could still feel it shaking. “I can’t even imagine what that must have been like for you.” She paused and looked at Archie once again. “Who might you be, dearie?”

“Huh? Oh…” Archie hesitated. “I’m, uh, Archie.”

“He’s my friend.” May added. She could see just how skeptically her grandmother had been looking at Archie, and she wanted to clear her conscious. “He found me when Groudon attacked, and he’s the one who helped me get here.”

“Well, thank you, Mr. Archie.” Her grandma replied. “Any friend of May’s is a friend of mine. Come on inside.”

Over the next couple of days, May told her grandma everything that had happened in Hoenn ever since Groudon had attacked. It seemed that most of the outside world had no clue what was going on in Heonn; only that a disaster had struck and most communications had been cut off. Once power was restored to Mauville, word got out about Groudon’s awakening, but other than that, the people of neighboring regions had no clue what was going on in Hoenn. May told her grandma most everything, but was sure to leave out a few extra details. She was sure her grandma didn’t need to know about _how_ Norman had died, or Archie’s true association with this whole thing. Her grandmother was horrified, of course, especially when it came to the incident on Route 110 and her battle with Groudon, but otherwise she seemed to take the information well.

May liked it at her grandma's house, which was good because she was likely going to be staying here for quite some time. She was given her father’s old bedroom, and while it was sparsely decorated and a little dusty from being left alone for years now, it was cozy and she liked it. However, she found herself having a hard time getting used to… normality. It was strange to sleep in an actual bed in clean clothes, safe inside an air-conditioned building. She found herself growing restless constantly, and on the fourth sleepless night, she decided she couldn’t just lie around anymore. She decided to start organizing her things; maybe that would tire her out. Or bore her to the point of sleep.

She started with her backpack and dumped all of its contents on the floor. She hadn’t touched it since she had gotten here; she was far too preoccupied with settling back in to pay much attention to it. There were still a lot of things she had from when she had started: her sleeping bag, still dirty from plenty of use, a couple of unused bandages, her skitty plushie, which she had used less and less as the journey went on, and a toothbrush she had neglected to use for most of the journey. But she noticed some items from along the way, too. A ripped piece of water balloon from Petalburg had somehow gotten inside, a small bottle of shampoo Tabitha had given to her was still unopened, and the one way ticket to Johto Archie had initially gotten her was folded up near the top as well. However, resting at the bottom of it all was something she had not seen in a very, very long time.

“Oh.” She picked up the large, king-sized candy bar that Archie had given her on the first day of their journey. With everything that had happened, she had completely forgotten about it, and let it fall to the bottom of her bag to make room for more important items. She couldn’t help but feel a bit sad looking at it. She remembered clearly what she had promised when she had gotten it. She was going to share it with everyone once they had all been reunited. She sighed, realizing she had been… naïve. But, it wasn’t like she didn’t have anyone to share it with now.

She got up and left her room, deciding to go share it with Archie. Knowing him, he was on her grandma’s deck, doing… something. She wasn’t sure what, but every night since the first day they had arrived, she had heard him go outside in the middle of the night like this. Maybe he was having a hard time getting used to things being normal as well? Or maybe it was the guest room he was staying in. May didn’t like it in there; there was a huge crack on the ceiling that looked eerily similar to a spiritomb. It gave her the creeps.

When she got outside, sure enough she found him sitting on the deck, close enough to the railing to let his feet dangle over the edge. May was always told not to do that as a kid but… oh well. She was too big to fit through the gap beneath the railing anyways. That, and she had fallen off a bridge already. How could this possibly be any worse? At least there was water beneath it this time.

“What are you doing up?” She finally asked Archie.

“Eh, couldn’t sleep.” He shrugged. “What about you?”

“Same here.” She sat down beside him and unwrapped the chocolate bar, noticing it had become quite the mess. During the course of their journey, it had melted and reformed many times in its packaging, but it was still at least edible. She snapped off a chunk of it and held it out for Archie. “Have some.”

“You still have that?” Archie asked, taking the piece anyways.

“Mmm-hmm. I said I was gonna share it with everyone once we found them.” She sighed and bit off a piece of her own chocolate.

“I guess we are everyone, huh?” Archie replied.

“Yeah.” They sat in silence for a while, sharing the chocolate and just gazing at the sky and sea that lay before them. May had always taken for granted just how beautiful the view could be in Olivine, and after spending about two months with thick ash and dry dirt instead of a sky and sea, she grew to appreciate it much more. On clear nights like this, the deep blue sky was reflected in the waves, and the stars were dazzling in both. She didn’t realize just how much she had missed it.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Archie asked.

“Yeah. Have you been coming out here every night for this?”

“Yup. It’s not a bad alternative to sleepin’.” She supposed he wasn’t wrong. And it beat staring at the ceiling all night.

“I'm… I’m gonna go back to Hoenn.” Archie said abruptly. “I have to.”

May wasn’t surprised to hear him say this. She didn’t think he was just going to start living with her and her grandma. And despite the death of Maxie, he still had so many people back in Hoenn waiting for him.

“What are you gonna do?” She asked. “You never really answered me when I asked in Sootopolis.”

“Yeah, guess I didn’t.” He chuckled. “I’m gonna get an eyepatch. This thing’s been an eyesore for long enough, don’t ya think?”

“You…!” She tried to be mad, but couldn’t help but laugh at that.

“I knew that’d get ya.”

“Just tell me, Archie.” May pouted.

“Fine, fine, I’m sorry.” He replied, and his tone became serious once more. “But… in all honesty… I had no idea what I was gonna do. I mean; I didn’t know if I was gonna make it back or not. I… kinda figured that I wouldn’t, so I never really thought about it.”

“…Oh.”

“H-hey, don’t give me that look. I promise I’m happy to be here. And… without your help, I probably wouldn’t be. Thanks, scamp. I really do appreciate it.” He said, ruffling her hair affectionately. “I was kinda, uh, lost when Maxie died. Don’t have to tell ya that. But… seein’ Lisia and Wallace reunite like that… I dunno, I guess it just really struck somethin’ in me. After all the death and misfortune, it was so nice to see something go right.”

He lay back on the patio and stared up at the sky, and May followed suit. It was beautiful; she had forgotten just how many stars she could see in Olivine at night even with the lighthouse’s ever-constant light.

“Beautiful.” Archie repeated. “I bet the sky over Hoenn looks like that now, too. It’s just as ya said back in Wallace’s secret base: the worst is over. Hoenn’s gonna rebuild, and people are gonna be happy again. And I’m gonna help ‘em do it.”

“I’ll miss you, you know.” May said, after a pause. There was no point in arguing with him; Hoenn was his home. But… she really would miss his company. It had only been two months, but he had been the most consistent part of her life during it all.

“I’ll miss ya too, scamp.”

There was silence for a moment, as the two of them gazed idly at the glimmering sky above them. May was… still worried, if she was honest. While Hoenn had been fixed, there was still so much uncertainty. It was still dangerous there, and there was no guarantee that Archie would be okay, was there?

But, if there was one thing May had discovered throughout this entire journey… it was that Archie truly did keep his promises. He had promised to find Maxie, he had promised to stay with May until she was in a safe place… would it really be too much to make one more promise with him?

“I never answered you, either.” May said.

“Answered what?”

“Back in Sootopolis, you asked if I wanted to come and try out the Hoenn league when things go back to normal, and I never answered you. I think… I will.”

“I’m glad to hear it, May.” She wasn’t looking at him, but she could tell just from his voice that he was smiling.

“Promise you’ll be okay? That you’ll stay safe until I see you again?”

“I promise.”

“Hey, Archie, hold on for a sec.” May said. She got up and went back to her room for a moment. She still wasn’t convinced quite yet, and she wanted to ensure it. She went through the stack of folded laundry on the cabinet. Her grandmother had insisted on getting rid of her dirty, tattered clothes from Hoenn, but had at least compromised and let her keep her bandanna. It was special to her, after all. It had been a gift from her parents on her first day in Hoenn all the way back at the beginning of summer. She hadn’t been all that enthused on moving, so her parents let her pick out something from one of the shops when they had arrived. She’d like to wear it as it should properly look for once, but now… she decided against it. She picked it up and brought it back outside.

“Here.” She said, dropping it on Archie’s chest. He finally sat up and examined it closely in the darkness.

“What’s this for?” He asked.

“I want you to keep it. It’s my favorite accessory.” She said.

“I’m flattered, but if it’s that important to ya then-”

“Then you’ll give it back to me when we meet up again.” May interrupted. “Right?”

“…Right.” He said with a smirk. “If that’s the case, then I guess I have somethin’ for ya too.” He pulled his blue bandanna out of his hair and handed it to her. “This is really important to me, too. So important that I refuse to die without seein’ it again. Understood?”

“Mmm-hmm.” May said, eagerly taking it. “You sure I won’t get in trouble wearing this?”

“Probably not. Team Aqua was a bunch of nobodies in Hoenn, so somethin’ tells me no one’s gonna know about it here.” He laughed. “Even your grandma was convinced that it was just some sports team.”

“I promise to keep it safe.” May said. To prove her point, she put the bandanna in her hair, and tied it up with a little bow. “Well? How does it look?”

“Cute, but I bet I can do better!” He exclaimed. He tied up May’s in a similar fashion. It was a little too small on him, so the ends of the bow were thin and didn’t stand up much. May giggled at the sight of him; the red really stood out against all his blue, and his toothy grin was truly the icing on the cake. “Well, what do ya think?”

“It’s beautiful, Archie!” She exclaimed.

The two of them sat on her grandmother’s porch, gazing at the stars and idly chatting about what they’d be doing during their time apart.

Archie set out the next morning. May noticed that the boat was significantly less crowded when it was traveling to Hoenn as apposed to when she had come from there, but there was still a bit of a crowd. She figured that people wanted to go see their loved ones, and of course tons of volunteers were eager to help.

May of course accompanied Archie to the harbor. They hugged and said their goodbyes, and Archie was soon on his way. May was sad to see him go, but for the first time in months, she watched him go without feeling the need to go after him. He finally had a plan, a plan that was not intended to lead to his death. And while she was certainly going to miss him greatly, she still looked towards the future with optimism.

She played idly with the aqua bandanna in her hair as she watched the ship sail further and further into the distance, and she continued to wave at it until it was nothing more than a speck on the horizon. Things were still a mess, and things were still going to be difficult for quite some time, but she would get through it, just like she had in the past, and she was certain he would as well.

After all, a promise is a promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And, at long last, she is finally home. As for how May's grandma looks....¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ For some reason I always envisioned her to look like the grandma from windwaker lmao.  
> Hmm.... idk what else to talk about, really. This is the end of the main story, and there's just the epilogue left. Thank you so much for everyone who stuck with it for this whole thing. It means a ton to me!!! The last chapter should be out soon. See you then :0


	11. Slateport

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter, and it takes place six years later. I don't really have more to say than that.  
> I'm still not entirety used to the formatting on AO3 so there's probably an easier way to do this but idk what it is. Anyways, thank you to the lovely Kethavel (http://kessavel-art.tumblr.com/post/140439389050 and http://kessavel-art.tumblr.com/post/140605211720) and Vannilliaify (http://nillabillafrillasilla.tumblr.com/post/141090746582) who both drew fanart for this fic!! Seriously it means a ton!! I never imagined that people would like my stories enough to actually draw something for it and these pieces are super good too i just shdjfhdjshfdsj :') !!!!! Sorry, I'm rambling. Onto the epilogue now.

“What?!” Blue exclaimed, as he returned his last fainted pokemon to its’ pokeball. “How in the world did I lose to someone like you?!” He looked truly startled, and May could only smirk at him. She had half a mind to say something snarky in response, but she could tell that’s likely what he would’ve wanted, seeing how he had been egging her on since the beginning of the battle. Clearly, her plan worked, and he just looked more agitated at her silence. “W-well, whatever! Gives me a reason to train my pokemon more anyways. Here!” He pulled out a shiny, green pin from his pocket and tossed it to May. “This is the Earth Badge. It’s yours to keep.”

“Thanks.” May replied, putting it away in her bag with the rest of her badges. “It was a good battle, wasn’t it, Swampert?” She pet her mega Swampert and the two of them left the gym together. 

It had been six years since the Groudon incident in Hoenn, and quite a bit had happened since then. May had returned to school for two years, deciding she had had enough of adventuring for awhile; she already had a few pokemon of her own, and she could use some stability in her life for a little while. But after two years of living with her grandmother, attending school, and hanging out with friends her heart started to yearn for adventure once again. That, and Brendan’s mega evolution bracelet sitting on her nightstand was a constant reminder of the promises she had made. Promises that she’d like to fulfill, even if on her own. At age 11, she set out on her first official pokemon journey, through the Johto League. She wanted to go back to Hoenn, but she wanted to get stronger, first. If she was going to beat the entire Hoenn League, she’d need more than just two very powerful pokemon. She wanted to have a large team with pokemon of all types before she took on Hoenn!

It took her nearly two years to traverse the entirety of Johto and take on all of its’ gym leaders. She had been able to travel all the way across Hoenn in about two months, but it turned out traveling through an entire region on foot was much, much harder when everything wasn’t dead. There were rivers and oceans to cross, forests to explore, mountains to climb… and that was just the traveling part. Wild pokemon lurked through the tall grass, hid in the forests and swam through the seas. And along with that, there were several other trainers May met on her journey that were eager to take her on in battle. Despite everything, she enjoyed every minute of it. The challenge of fighting other trainers, the suspense of running into new wild pokemon in nature, the excitement of exploring new and different areas of the region… this is what a pokemon journey was supposed to feel like. The only thing that could make it better was having a permanent companion.

She supposed she wasn’t too lonely. She still had her Swampert and Gardevoir. She still had her grandmother, whom she visited frequently as well as quite a few friends her age, some of which accompanied her for brief periods of time. But despite that, she missed having a constant companion to talk to, like Archie.

But… at least she still had Brendan.

After collecting all seven gym badges in Johto and taking a brief break for a couple of months, May set out to Kanto to do it all over again. And it was on that journey she discovered that she could still communicate with Brendan. However, she could only do so at the Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town. After realizing that, she visited quite frequently, especially since she had caught a skarmony of her own that she could use to fly from place to place. Her frequent visits earned her the reputation of being a ghost fanatic, which was funny, seeing how she didn’t really use ghost types all that frequently. Maybe she could compile a full party of them at some point and really live up to her reputation.

However, that reputation didn’t come close to her other one.

A few weeks after Archie had left Johto, news had spread about what had happened in Hoenn. Soon, the whole world knew of the disastrous heat wave, the terrifying earthquakes and the legendary god that had caused it all… that, and they heard about the girl who had stopped it. It seems Archie had eagerly told everyone he could about their battle with Groudon, but for some reason he gave all the credit to May. She wasn’t sure why. He did do his fair share in weakening it, even if he had been knocked out for the remainder of the battle. Maybe he just wanted to make her feel better about herself? Or maybe he still felt guilty about losing Maxie and refused to take any credit. She wasn’t sure, and she wasn’t sure if she’d want to bring it up. But thanks to him, she was known all throughout the world as May, the daughter of the late gym leader Norman, the one who defeated the legendary Groudon at the young age of nine. She became something of a legend herself, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. A lot of people wanted to meet her and interview her, and while the popularity was fun, it could be exhausting. She wanted to be treated like a regular trainer, just like everyone else. She didn’t want people to treat her differently or give her unfair advantages just because of what she had done. So, she didn’t bring up who she was until people asked first, and tended to avoid press. Luckily, as time passed, her popularity died down, but she did still get the occasional person begging for a picture or autograph.

After May defeated the Viridian gym, she flew back to Lavender Town, eager to tell Brendan the news. She climbed the stairs until she reached a floor that was empty. Usually the building was pretty deserted, but it’d be rude to bother mourners with her happy chatter.

“Brendan?” She asked, making her way through the darkness. “Brendan, I know you’re in here!” Like clockwork, he appeared, idly sitting against a wall.

“What’s up, May?” He asked, a smile on his face. Appearance wise, he hadn’t changed in the slightest. And how could he? He was dead. But he had grown up along with her and had been by her side since day one, even if he had to be silent. She asked him many times if he wanted her to let him go, but he always refused, claiming that he wanted to see Hoenn first. And now she’d finally be able to take him home.

“Check it out!” May explained, pulling her badge box from her bag. She opened it, revealing her shiny new earth badge.

“I saw that already.” He said.

“I know, but now I can actually see you react! What do you think?”

“It’s awesome! This means you’re all done with Kanto, right?”

“Mmm-hmm!” She replied triumphantly.

“I bet I would’ve finished it quicker.” He joked. She smacked his back jokingly and, as expected, her hand went through. They were used to interactions like this.

“Yeah, yeah, sure you would’ve.” She replied, rolling her eyes. “But, you know what this means, right?” She stooped down to his height, and held her hands over his, as if she was holding them. “We’re finally going to go home!”

The grin on his face was something she had been waiting to see for ages.

She spent the next couple of days traveling back to Olivine City. She walked part of the way and flew part of the way; after all, it was a long trip. Usually she preferred to travel by foot unless it was necessary to do otherwise, but she was eager to tell her grandmother the news and she really, really wanted to see Hoenn again. That, and as she got more and more accustomed to flying on a pokemon’s back, she found that she liked it. She enjoyed gazing at the shimmering lights of the cities and towns below, as well as seeing other flying pokemon soar beside her. It was so much nicer than flying over a desert in the pouring rain on the back of a gyarados. She was positive she would never have to do that ever again.

When she reached her grandmother’s house in the early morning, she found someone waiting for her on the front porch.

“Pelipper!” She exclaimed, running towards the pokemon. He had been sleeping, but once he heard her, he woke up and flapped his wings at her happily. “What have you got for me today?” A letter was placed in his mouth, and once May held out her hands towards him, he let it fall into them. The letter, as usual, was addressed to May.

About a month and a half after May had arrived in Johto, she found the Pelipper on the front porch, with a letter in his mouth addressed to her. May was surprised to see him; pelipper and wingull weren’t common in Johto, so clearly he had come here with a purpose. The letter was from Archie. Somehow, he had found a pelipper, and he had kept her address from when she had given it to him back in Lilycove, and he kept his promise about writing her. And ever since then the two of them sent letters back and forth on close to a monthly basis. It got a little harder to consistently write after May set off on her pokemon journey, but Pelipper was usually able to track her down with his keen eyes.

May missed Archie dearly, but writing back and forth almost made it seem like he was here the whole time. May told him about everything; the gym badges she collected, the new pokemon and trainers she met along the way, and all the adventures she had whilst traveling through Johto and Kanto. She got a couple of disposable cameras along the way as well, and took pictures of things she thought were neat or that she thought Archie would like to see.

However, May found his letters to be much more interesting. After all, Johto and Kanto were just that; two of the oldest regions that had remained fairly consistent throughout the years. Hoenn, on the other hand, was changing for the better constantly. Through the pictures he sent and stories he told, May could tell that the region was starting to look like itself again. Pokemon breeders and pokemon conservationists were helping the wild pokemon population return to normal, especially grass and water types, which had all almost gone extinct since the heat wave. Along with that, people and pokemon alike made efforts to return the land to what it had been before Groudon. Cities were restored as well as nature, and though it often wasn’t the main focus of most of the photos Archie had taken, it was wonderful to see the grass and trees begin to grow in the background. May remembered that about a year after it all, Archie had sent her a picture of the first pokemon he encountered in the tall grass out on Route 110. It was a minun, eagerly searching for berries. He didn’t catch it, of course. There were so few pokemon in the wild these days that it’d be a waste if he did, but seeing it really did touch his heart.

May enjoyed hearing about the people in Hoenn, as well. Apparently, Archie had been able to reunite with quite a few of his friends since before the incident. He told May that he had given Tabitha his camerupt back, and he and Shelly were doing well. In fact, they were doing better than just that. Somewhere along the line they had reunited Courtney, another Team Magma member that they had lost during the first couple of weeks. And with her there, actual work tended to get done… for the most part. Shelly openly adored her, and sometimes convinced her to ditch work and hang out. But clearly, something seemed to go right; after all, power was soon restored throughout Hoenn. And at least Tabitha seemed happier with her around as well.

Wallace and Lisia seemed to be fairing all right as well. Now that Steven was gone, Wallace had become the new Hoenn League Champion. He had refused it at first, obviously still guilty about what had happened in Sootopolis, but once the other Elite Four members convinced him that those were Steven’s sentiments, he took the job. However, he refused to have any guidebooks changed. According to all sources, Steven Stone was still the champion. And if anyone asked Wallace, he simply claimed that he was just fighting in Steven’s place until he returned. From what May had heard, he was an amazing champion. According to Archie, he still battled with just as much elegance as he had before. He still walked with a limp and needed a cane, but he still managed to dazzle both in battle and in contests.

He couldn’t come close to Lisia in the latter, however. Lisia, true to her word, returned to her dreams and became a contest idol. Lisia was spectacular and excelled in every category, all with just one pokemon: her amazing, now evolved Ali. Archie didn’t actually need to tell May about Lisia’s achievements. About two years after the Groudon incident, May saw Lisia on television. Contests were growing in popularity, with similar competitions being held in other regions like Sinnoh, and it seemed some of the championships were popular enough to air in Johto and Kanto. May watched Lisia preform in awe; she was clearly the best in the show. She and her Ali were capable of dazzling the audience regardless of what category they were competing in, and May couldn’t take her eyes off of her. Now that she was a professional, Lisia often wore sparkling blue costumes, and she even got a prosthetic arm designed with glimmering swirls and sparkles. May looked forward to seeing her again, too. She had sent letters along with Archie, though not as often. Now that she was something of a celebrity, she was often too busy to write. Despite that she tried her best, and May looked forward to her messages as well. Lisia still seemed eager to show May the flowery fields of Ever Grande, and May anticipated it as well.

As for Archie… May was surprised to hear it, but he became Hoenn’s pokemon professor. Based on the way he wrote about it, it seemed like he didn’t plan on keeping the position permanently. He would always talk about how soon enough some young, brilliant genius would come fresh out of college and replace him. But despite that assertion, it had been about four and a half years since he had gotten the position, and nothing had changed. May was sure he made an excellent pokemon professor. He loved working with children, he loved being around pokemon, and despite the way he acted, he seemed to know quite a bit about pokemon. He was a little wary when it came to the other professors, who all seemed much more mature and professional than he did, but other than that he liked the job. His favorite part was giving kids their starter pokemon. Archie did say that he wanted to make people happy like when Wallace and Lisia were reunited, and while he wasn’t necessarily reuniting people, seeing the looks of joy on both new trainers’ and pokemon’s faces was close enough. Seeing the bond between pokemon and trainer begin to blossom was something he loved to contribute to.

In one of his letters, he even brought up Wally coming in one day. While he was training his Raltz, he wanted a teammate for him as well, and Archie was happy to oblige. According to Archie, Wally had become something of a fierce trainer; from what he had heard, the kid had already obtained most of the badges in Hoenn. May was happy to hear that he had become healthy enough to travel, but she was even more excited to battle against him, just as they had promised.

May eagerly read Archie’s letter and quickly wrote a letter in response, telling him that she would be visiting Hoenn shortly. She gave it to Pelipper, who was soon on his way again. She was going to wait a couple days and say her proper goodbyes to her grandmother and all her other friends in Johto, but the trip to Hoenn couldn’t come quicker. She went to bed that night, giddier than she had been in years.

* * *

 “Archie, wake up.”

Archie ignored the voice, and rolled over in bed, away from the noise. He was tired, and he’d get his sleep.

“Five more minutes…” He mumbled.

“Oh, don’t do that. We have places we need to be.” Archie soon felt hands on him, shaking him gently. Finally, he gave in and opened his eyes.

“Max,” he groaned, “would it really kill us to sleep in awhile longer?”

“Not technically.” Maxie replied, sitting on the mattress beside him. “But-”

“That’s all I needed to hear!” And with that, Archie wrapped his arms around Maxie’s waist and pulled him down into a tight embrace.

“Are you serious right now?” Maxie hissed, struggling to escape his grip; Archie could see his legs kicking wildly and he refused to let his feet touch the bed. “I’ve got my shoes on already!”

“Then I’ll do the laundry, okay?” Archie replied. Maxie calmed significantly at that.

“You’re the worst.” He finally said.

“I know, I know.” He chuckled. He felt Maxie’s hands against his arms. It was gentle, but he supposed that was the most he would be getting affection-wise from Maxie. It was better than nothing at least and it still managed to make his heart swell. He brushed some of Maxie’s long hair aside and kissed the nape of his neck softly.

“You’re going to have to wake up soon, you know.” Maxie said.

“I know.” Archie replied, squeezing him the slightest bit tighter. “But just a little bit longer.”

All too soon, Archie actually woke up and found his arms and his bed empty. He lay there for a moment longer, attempting to fall asleep once again in a vain effort to return to that sweet dream. But, unfortunately, he remained awake. He sighed and touched his arm gently. Maxie’s weight had just felt so real. Archie was unsure how to feel about the dream; he couldn’t deny that it was nice having a dream like that. It was the first time in years he had dreamt about Maxie without seeing him in his primal, possessed form or dead after being horribly battered and weakened. But having a pleasant dream like this just left him feeling lonelier when he awoke. He rolled over on the bed and glanced at his bedside table. There was a book on Celebi that he had been reading, some reading glasses that no one except himself knew that he needed, his- or should he say, May’s- bandanna… and, a framed picture of Maxie and himself from college. It was one of the few pictures he still had of the two of them together. He’d never forgive himself for throwing out most of their things after their fight. He had been so bitter about their falling out that he hadn’t been thinking clearly. Now, this was essentially all that was left.

He took a good look at the picture, like he had many mornings before this one. It was close to sixteen years old now, and he could see its colors beginning to fade. He and Maxie were standing side by side, both of them smiling. This wasn’t unusual for Archie but Maxie didn’t smile often, even when he was getting his picture taken. His explanation was that he wanted to look sophisticated. Archie thought it was silly. If you’re having fun, why not show it? But, today was different. It was the day the two of them had gone on a brief trip to Dewford Town. Maxie hadn’t been all that thrilled; he didn’t care much for the ocean, and riding on boats oftentimes made him nauseous, but once they arrived at Granite Cave, he was ecstatic. He liked exploring mountains and caves in general, but seeing the gigantic mural of Groudon had taken his breath away; and he couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the day. Archie had had to get that on camera; and so the picture was taken.

He got a closer look at Maxie, and realized that the Maxie in his dreams had been this one: nearly twenty years younger, when he had wire-framed glasses, when his hair was far too long because he was often too preoccupied with other things to cut it… he had even been in the exact same clothes. This made Archie anxious. He began to wonder if this and his possessed form were the only things he could imagine. It had been six years since he had spoken with Maxie and seen him… what if he forgot what he really looked like? Or sounded like? This one picture could only provide so much; and just gazing at it wasn’t going to help him remember.

It was only then that he noticed a strange, green feather on his bed, a few inches away from where he was laying.

Before he had the chance to dwell on it for long, Archie heard a squawk at his window. He groaned and finally got out of bed. He knew that sound well; it was his pelipper, likely here to deliver a letter from May. At least that was something to be cheerful about. He opened the window and Pelipper flew in energetically. Archie took the letter from him and once he read it, he gasped.

“She’s comin’ home?” He looked up at Pelipper, as if expecting him to answer. Pelipper just looked at him curiously. Based on the date of this letter, May could arrive anytime between a day, a week, or fifteen minutes from now. “Shit! The lab’s a mess!” Archie rushed downstairs, quickly shoving the feather in his pocket.

* * *

When May arrived at Slateport, she was absolutely dazzled. It was just as she had remembered it the few times when she was little. Well, close to it, at least. The palm trees on the beach were much shorter than they were the first time she had been here, but they were getting there, at least. The beach was packed with people; little children played eagerly with one another, their inner tubes causing them to constantly crash into things. There were several swimsuit-clad people enjoying themselves: some were swimming, while others were battling. Some were doing both. There were people at the beach house enjoying ice cream and root-beer floats, and for a moment, May considered getting one herself. She held back, deciding she needed to visit Archie first. She was sure she’d find time to get one over the next couple of months at least. She took a deep breath, and smiled. The air was much clearer now; it was even refreshing to inhale. She continued on forward, heading towards Archie’s lab.

The building was located on the east side of town, close to the ocean, of course, just south of the shipyard. It looked quite similar to Professor Birch’s, only quite a bit larger. Likely because he lived here, as well. When she went inside, she found it to be mostly empty. It was still pretty early in the day, and it was a weekend. But she could hear movement and Archie's voice deeper within the lab. The place was… a mess, if she was honest. But she could tell that he had at least attempted to clean a little. Several books and files were placed in messy stacks on the various desks, and she could tell that he had swept the floor recently. She felt a little bad for not telling him exactly when she was going to arrive, but she didn’t want some big, glamorous party waiting for her. And something told her that Archie would’ve done just that. That, and it’d be fun to surprise him. She released her swampert, but before he could say anything, May pressed a finger to her lips, instructing him to be silent. He seemed to understand, and followed behind her quietly.

She found Archie in the eastern most room of the laboratory. May could tell this was where he had spent most of this time. The walls were lined with bookshelves and whirring machines, just like in Professor Birch’s lab. He was sitting at a table placed right against the wall, where there was window overlooking the ocean. He was hunched over, quickly writing something down. It seemed he hadn’t noticed her come in.

“Excuse me, professor?” May asked, making her voice sound as young as she could. “I think there’s something wrong with the starter you gave me.” She nodded at Swampert to step forward.

“Somethin’ wrong? What-” The moment he turned around, Swampert engulfed him in a tight hug and lifted him from his seat. Clearly, Swampert remembered him and seemed quite happy to see him. Archie struggled in his grasp for a moment, until he noticed May laughing just a few feet away. Then he began to laugh, too.

“Hi, Archie!” May said, waving at him.

“May!” Swampert finally put him down, and he immediately rushed over to her, pulling her into a tight hug. He lifted her up and spun her around, just like he had when they had defeated Groudon. He put her down soon enough, and May finally got a good look at him. She realized now that he wasn’t as large as she had remembered. In fact, her head reached about the same height as his shoulders. He had grown quite a bit older as well. She noticed the first signs of graying in his beard, but it didn’t seem to bother him; he looked just as energetic as always. Just as he had promised, he had gotten himself an eye patch, covering the burnt side of his face. He also wore a lab coat, but despite that, he still didn’t look like a professor. At least, not to May. His eye patch was one thing, but the red bandanna he wore in his hair really made him look like a pirate. “It’s good to see ya, scamp! And, uh… sorry this place is such a dump. Didn’t know you were comin’ so soon.”

“It’s fine. I wanted to surprise you anyways.” May replied.

“Well… what did ya wanna do first?” He asked. “I told Lisia you were comin' too. She said she wants to see ya when ya get the chance, but otherwise…”

“Hmmm…” If May was honest, she wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do first. She had compiled quite the list of things that she wanted to do in Hoenn, but now that she was here, she was unsure where to even begin. However, before she could answer him, she heard the door to his labs swing open, and the sound of footsteps approaching. A man soon entered the room, but he immediately took an interest in May’s swampert before acknowledging either her or Archie. He was a tall and slender man with thick black hair that curled around his face. He looked at Swampert with calm blue eyes and smiled at him, gently patting his head.

“What an extraordinary creature.” He mused. He had a thick accent that May didn’t recognize, and she could barely understand what he was saying.

“Gus!” Archie exclaimed, walking towards the man. “What are you doin’ here?” He hugged the man who, in response, kissed him on both cheeks. . May looked at him cautiously. Who was this person? Whoever he was, Archie hadn’t brought him up at all in any of his letters.

“I figured I’d stop by.” He replied. “I…” He paused when he finally took notice of May staring at him. He smiled at her, too. “Hello! Is this swampert yours? It’s fantastic!”

“Um, yes, he is…” She replied nervously.

“Oh, right, I should introduce you two!” Archie exclaimed. “May, this is my colleague, Gus! I mean, Augustine Sycamore. He’s the pokemon professor of Kalos! And Gus, this is May.”

“Professor Sycamore?” She had certainly heard of him, but she had never seen his face before. A lot of people her age referred to him as the hot professor. She guessed she could sort of understand why. It probably helped that he wasn’t an old man like most of the other pokemon professors.

“So you’re May!” Sycamore said happily. “I’ve heard so much about you. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person!” He shook her hand excitedly. “This is the swampert used to fight Groudon, yes? He's capable of mega evolution?”

“Yes.” May responded. She had never gotten that question before. It was sort of refreshing to hear instead of a request for a picture.

“Marvelous! To think you had a close enough bond to do mega evolution at your age!” He noticed May standing there awkwardly, and smiled sheepishly. “I’d love to talk with you at some point, but... you two seem to have a lot of catching up to do.”

“Wait, ya sure?”

“Of course. I didn't know May was coming back today, and I wouldn't want to interrupt this long-awaited reunion.” He started walking towards the entrance. “Besides, there are other sights in Hoenn I wanted to see today. Au revoir.”

“What was he here for?” May asked, once she was sure Sycamore had gone.

“Oh, he comes by a lot.” Archie replied. “Our studies come hand in hand, y’know?”

“What studies?”

“Pokemon professors do more than just hand out starters, May.” Archie said. “We also study some aspect about pokemon. Like Elm, in Johto! Ya know him, right? He studies pokemon breeding patterns.”

“Then what do you do?” May asked curiously.

“Legendaries, of course. Especially since I can vouch for their existence.” He said.

“What about Professor Sycamore?”

“He does Mega Evolution. A lot of legendary pokemon can mega evolve, so we tend to share information back in forth. That, and he likes to travel.” He paused, seeming to notice her disinterest. “But… I’m sure me talkin’ about work isn’t what ya came here for. C’mon, we’ve got places to be.”

The two of them spent the day catching up. Even though they had been writing back and fourth consistently for the past couple of years there was still so much more they had left unsaid. May showed Archie her pokemon badges, and he seemed impressed by her new team. He told her that she’d be better off with a team that featured more water types, but she quickly shut him down, reminding him that she was the one here that had sixteen pokemon badges.

She and Archie travelled from Slateport to Petalburg. After all, it did seem like a good place to spend her first day back in Hoenn. It was nice to see just how much the scenery had changed within the past couple of years. She was sure to stop by Littleroot, as well. Seeing how it was just her and Brendan’s family that had lived there, it had mostly fallen into ruin. But, in a way, it had become beautiful as well. The new grass had become overgrown, and thick vines and flowers were growing all over the remains of her home, as well as the decrepit lab and Brendan’s home. The one good thing about all of the volcanic ash leftover was that it made for a wonderful fertilizer for new plants. There were a couple of wild zigzagoon playing in the mess of grass and ruins, and she left Littleroot, happy to see that her home had at least become a home to someone.

When they arrived in Petalburg, Wally immediately greeted them. He had grown up and become quite healthy, it seemed. Seeing how he had become such a strong trainer, he took the place of gym leader at Norman’s gym. He didn’t seem quite set on staying there permanently, however. With many of Hoenn’s gym leaders gone, gyms were taking to having trainers and leaders like him, who battled with several pokemon types. Soon enough, there would be a qualified trainer who excelled with normal type pokemon. And once that person arrived, Wally would gladly step down. He challenged her to a battle outside the gym, and she was almost beaten by him many times. He had become quite a tough trainer indeed, and his mega gallade was almost enough to stop her in her tracks. But she pushed through it and won anyways with her mega swampert. Maybe it was a little unfair, she thought. After all, she was teaming up with Brendan as well.

Before the day was over, she and Archie headed back to Slateport to determine where they’d travel through Hoenn first. She wanted to fight all the gyms, and Archie said that the two of them should travel to Dewford first, seeing how it was so out of the way in comparison to the other gyms. They’d set off tomorrow morning, of course. After all… she had a date to attend to.

Lisia had been preforming in Slateport when she arrived, and once May entered the concert hall, Lisia nearly tackled her in excitement. Lisia had her take the ferry to Lilycove that night, and from there they went to Ever Grande. It was as beautiful as Lisia had promised it would be. The city, if it could even be called that, sat atop a mountain that looked over the wide expanse of ocean. If she squinted hard enough, she could see Sootopolis and Mossdeep in the distance. Rows upon rows of flowers stretched as far as the eye could see; it was simply beautiful. Once the sun set, the two of them lay in the soft grass, simply gazing at the stars above them. Ever Grande was small and really only consisted of two buildings, so there were few lights to interrupt their view.

“So, May?” Lisia asked, rolling to her side to get a better look at her. “What do you think of Hoenn now?”

“It’s wonderful.” May said, taking a deep breath. Even at night, the smell of the fresh flowers was thick and made the air smell sweet. “I can’t wait to see everything it has to offer.”

“I knew I shouldn’t give up on Hoenn.” Lisia replied. “And I’m glad you didn’t either.”

“Yeah.” Overall, it had been a tiring but pretty good first day in Hoenn. She forgot how beautiful this place could really be, and even though she had lost so many along the way, she still had so many lovely things here to call home. There was Wally, who had promised her another battle sometime in the future. There was Lisia, who had asked her on another date to see the sights in Hoenn later. There was Wallace, whom she determined was going to be the first Pokemon League Champion she battled. And then there was Archie, who would be with her every step of the way. She was excited to see Hoenn and explore it with Brendan by her side. She was sure sooner or later, she would have to let him go; but at the very least, they could explore the Hoenn they were meant to so many years ago. She clutched at her bracelet and smiled as she gazed at the clear sky above her.

When May was fifteen, the world seemed to have begun again.

* * *

 

Archie returned to his lab, exhausted by the day. He had forgotten how tiring traveling around on foot could be, but it had certainly been fun. He had wanted to accompany May and Lisia to Ever Grande, but Lisia had specified that this was their date alone. He supposed he could respect that. After all, it’d be just him and May for a while after this. He was thankful that Shelly was happy to take his place at the lab while he was gone. She needed some time away from Tabitha, anyways. Those two were best friends, but they had a way of tiring one another out.

When he reached his main room, he found Sycamore in there, sitting at his desk, reading one of his files intently. He sighed; he liked Sycamore a lot, but he did have a tendency to poke his nose into other people’s business. He supposed he couldn’t blame him after what had happened in Kalos, but it could be annoying.

“Gus,” Archie said, “what are you doing here?”

“You left your door unlocked.” He replied, his gentle smile present as always. “And the ferry back to Kalos doesn’t leave until tomorrow. Sorry again, mon amie, I will plan my visits better in the future.”

“It’s fine. I like havin’ ya over. What exactly did ya come for, anyways?”

“I discovered something about Mewtwo the other day. Did you know that it might have two mega evolutionary forms? Exciting, isn’t it?” He paused. “…But it seems you made some discoveries of your own.” He picked up the file he was reading, the same one Archie had written in this morning. “Cresselia, the lunar pokemon,” he read, “known to bring happy but cruel dreams to humans with her feathers. Originated in Sinnoh, but apparently able and willing to travel to other regions.” He pulled the feather out of the file and examined it. “Cruel?”

“Yeah.” Archie replied firmly.

“How was it cruel?” Archie said nothing, but both of them knew it was a rhetorical question. “You dreamt about _him_ , didn’t you?” Archie’s glare told him everything he needed to know. “Now, now, Archie, you shouldn’t let your biases get the best of you.”

“I… know, Gus.” Archie muttered. “But c’mon! How would you feel if ya dreamt about Lysandre, then woke up to nothing?” He saw Sycamore avert his eyes for a moment; clearly he had struck a nerve.

He had told May that he and Sycamore were merely colleagues, but there was more to it than just that. A couple years back, the world had almost ended. Very few people outside of Kalos knew, however, that a misguided man by the name of Lysandre tried to awaken the legendary Yyvetal. He had tried to use its power to exterminate all life on earth save for his team, in the hopes of creating a better world. He had been stopped by a group of children, however, and as a result he had killed himself and anyone else unfortunate to get caught in the rubble of his life-stopping machine. When it was all settled, the people of Kalos had rejoiced. Sycamore included, of course. But despite that… he still couldn’t help but feel guilty and sad. He had cared deeply for Lysandre, and part of him believed that he could’ve stopped this without him- or anyone for that matter- getting killed. He constantly wondered what he could’ve done to prevent all of this. When Sycamore had told him the story, Archie couldn’t help but be sympathetic. He had a hard time feeling any pity for Lysandre because, unlike Maxie, he simply couldn’t understand or agree with his motives at all. But he could understand Sycamore perfectly. Both of them had lost someone dear to them, someone who was too ambitious for their own good, someone who had tried to awaken a legendary for their own plans, and someone, he had joked, who was redheaded. Their individual studies certainly did come hand in hand, but the two had quite a bit in common outside of that.

“I understand where you are coming from, but you can’t let your feelings get in the way of your work.” Sycamore replied. “If you do, no one will take you seriously.”

“I know.”

“Do you?” Sycamore asked. “Because I couldn’t help but notice which pokemon you spend most of your time on.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Archie asked.

“Well…” Sycamore gestured to the stack of files Archie had left haphazardly on the desk, and pointed to each one as he spoke. “Hoopa, the pokemon that can travel to alternate universes. Dialga, the pokemon that can alter time. Celebi, the time travel pokemon. Jirachi, the wish-granting pokemon… Correct me if I’m wrong, but you seem to have a fascination with pokemon that can alter the past. Why is that?”

“Don’t give me that look.” Archie snapped. “It’s just research.”

“Is it? Archie, I’m worried about you. You’re not planning something, are you?”

“No, well…” He hesitated. “Not yet, at least. And so what if I am?”

“I don’t think messing with the gods…”

“Fine, I’ll admit it: Dialga’s a bit of a stretch. But what harm could the other ones do?”

“Ask Oak. I’ve heard he met a celebi once.”

“You’re not listening!” Archie shouted. “Wouldn’t ya want to go back, and stop Lysandre from doin’ all the stupid shit he did? Wouldn’t ya give anything just to see him again? And not just him, if I stopped Maxie from doin’ his thing, he’d still be here! So many people and pokemon would still be here! Gus, think of all the people I could help!”

“Are you even listening to yourself talk?” Sycamore asked. For the first time all evening, his calm demeanor had slipped, and he was beginning to raise his voice too. “You sound exactly like both of them! You’re thinking of tampering with a god to help people. Look what happened the last time someone tried it!”

“C’mon, Gus, aren’t ya worried about it? Aren’t ya worried that one day you’ll forget what he sounded like? Or what he looked like? It’s been six years and already I’m startin’ to struggle with it!” Sycamore looked the slightest bit sympathetic at that, but his glare remained firm.

“Of course I worry about it. I worry about it all the time. He was one of my dearest friends, and I’ll never stop missing him.” He sighed. “But, I am aware of his mistakes, and I refuse to make them as well! I miss him, but I have so many people left that care about me, and I love them in return! We can’t keep focusing on what we’re missing… we need to cherish what we have, and will continue to have. If we don’t…” He trailed off, and gazed at Archie’s eye patch. “History will repeat itself.”

Archie said nothing, but he wasn’t angry anymore. He knew Sycamore was right, but part of him didn’t want to believe him. He just wanted to see Maxie one last time. He just wanted to apologize to him and make everything right… was that so wrong? He all but collapsed into the chair beside the desk and groaned.

“Gus... he was right next to me.” He finally said. "I was so close to saving him..."

“I know you were. But would he really want you repeating his mistakes?”

“What if I’m more prepared than he is?”

“What if you’re not?” Archie said nothing else, choosing to glare at the open file with the cresselia feather in it. He felt Sycamore’s hand grasp at his shoulder gently. “Look… I can’t tell you what to do. But... please be careful. If not for my sake, or for Maxie’s, do it for that little girl. She impresses me, but no child should've had to fight a god at nine. Let her live her peaceful life. Lord knows she deserves it.”

Archie didn't say anything, and Sycamore stood up straight, smiling as if nothing had ever happened.

“I brought over some coffee, and some of those petit fours that you like.” He said. “I think I’ll make myself a cup. Would you like one too?”

“…Sure.” Archie said after a brief pause. “I’ll catch ya in a sec.” Sycamore nodded and continued on ahead towards the kitchen upstairs. Archie just sat there for a moment, gazing at his files in silence. He had hoped that no one would see through his professor facade. That no one would notice what he was planning. For years, he had been thinking this through; thinking of ways he could possibly go back and fix things. And… he still wanted to do it. But Sycamore was right. There were too many risks involved, too many opportunities for failure. Plus, he would never want to bring something so horrible upon May once again. No person should have suffered like she had in their entire lifetime, let alone when they were a child.

But then again… what if he could fix things and bring her parents back? Or her little friend? Wouldn’t she be happy?

He sighed, and put all of the files into a drawer in his desk, then locked it up tight. This journey with May would be good for him. Being stuffed up in a lab reading theories for nearly six years was probably eating at him. After he and May traversed Hoenn again, he would think of what to do.

He got up and headed towards the kitchen as well. Someday, he’d make his choice. But today was simply not that day.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaaaaaaaaand that's the end. There was no way I was ending this fic without bringing up my favorite pokemon, Pelipper!  
> I wanted to make sure this ended well for May. She deserves to have a happy ending at least which is why I made sure that most of her end goals were met. She got a lot done in her first day, and after she battles Wallace and the Elite Four, I imagine then she and Brendan will finally say their final goodbyes and she will get rid of his bracelet. At least they got to spend some time together, even if it was rather quiet.  
> As for Archie... I dunno. As I was writing this, I was worried I made him too... good, I guess. Sure, he is a good guy in the context of Omega Ruby, but even in that game Archie says that he would've released Kyogre if given the chance, and if things had gone just a little differently, perhaps it would've been him you were fighting instead of Maxie. So I dunno. I wouldn't put it past him to go to extreme measures once again to try and change what had happened, especially if it meant saving Maxie and everyone else that had died. That's part of the reason I included Sycamore in this ending. Sycamore's the type of person to make the best of what had happened, and try to move things in the right direction, while Archie would try and do the opposite and change things for a better outcome. I was planning on having Sycamore show up for this reason. In the context of the story, I feel like the two of them would be able to relate, so I can see them being friends, and him trying to stop Archie before he repeats other people's mistakes. Whether or not Archie tries to go through with it is up to you, I guess. I didn't feel like writing him trying; this is May's story, and her part is happily over.  
> Sorry, I'm rambling again lol.  
> I can't think of anything else to really say so... once again, I'd like to thank everyone that took the time to read this fic. I've gotten an overwhelming amount of positive feedback, and I've seen people recommending my fic to others on tumblr and even gotten fanart of it. I never expected to get this much attention or support, so it really does mean a ton to me. Thank you all so much!! I hope the ending lived up to your expectations as well, and thank you for sticking with me through this whole story. You all are the best!!


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